


Cooking with Madeline

by DanielleSmileyFace



Category: The Pretender
Genre: F/M, Gen, contains traces of Mary-Sue, mentions of abuse, mentions of non-con/rape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-22
Updated: 2014-04-22
Packaged: 2018-01-20 10:59:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1508060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanielleSmileyFace/pseuds/DanielleSmileyFace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Version 1 of the Madeline Series- A young girl is dumped in front of Miss Parker's house in the middle of winter- how will she affect Miss Parker? This version mostly follows the tv series, but will probably draw on the novels in later chapters. The first two parts are the same in both versions but posted on both for convenience.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Home

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: This story jumps back a while-- to January of the first season, not too long after Jarod gave Miss Parker the white rabbit, who, since he hasn't been mentioned since (tsk, tsk), I've named Bunny. It might take awhile for you to get the connection between the beginning of the fic and The Pretender but I promise there is one! (I started this series in high school, when the series was originally airing in the late 90s.)
> 
> Author’s Note 7/20/13: Reworking this part a little- no major changes, really, just some small stuff, like the weird tense thing I had going on at the beginning (and, after 15 years, ‘aspirin’ is finally spelled correctly). ;) This story contains traces of Mary-Sue, so if you have an allergy, please stay away for your own safety.
> 
> Disclaimer: Miss Parker, Jarod, Sydney, Raines, Angelo, Broots, and the Centre belong to NBC, CVS, and SLM.. Everyone else belongs to me.

**Home**  
 _Part 1 of the Madeline Series_  
By Danielle : - )

"Oh!" Madeline moaned softly in pain. She couldn't have told you an exact location of the pain- her whole body was liberally covered with bruises. If she’d had the strength or desire to look, she would’ve been hard pressed to find an area of her body that wasn’t cut, bruised, or caked with drying blood.  
  
Madeline looked up at the person responsible for the majority of the most recent pain- her stepfather, Steve.

"Is that enough? You ready to do it yet?" he asked, looking at Jack, who'd hit her more than his fair share as well before taking them for a ride.

"No matter how much you hurt me, I'm not going to kill anyone," proceeded a gasp as Steve kicked her in the stomach.

"Look, you little whore, if you don't agree with my plan to kill the governor, we're going to kill you." Jack went to the small kitchen of their rundown apartment for another beer.

"Just kill me already!" the teenager meant it, too, but knew Steve wouldn't want to get rid of all the money she brought in. Madeline wanted them, or anyone, to put her out of this misery she’d been in for two years. Her stepfather used all the money he got pimping her out to buy drugs. Madeline couldn't remember how many times she’s held a knife to her wrist, wanting to slash it; or a gun to her temple, wishing she could pull the trigger. Something always stopped her from ending her life, though, a miniscule part of her head that told her the pain and degradation wouldn’t last forever.

"Come on," Steve pulled her to her feet and dragged her to the door, afraid she’d cry out loud enough for a neighbor to call the police (as if that would happen in their neighborhood). Jack got behind the wheel of his brand-new convertible. Steve shoved Madeline in the back and then got in as Jack sped away.  
  
Madeline knew he'd really let her have it now that no witnesses were around. It would take all her willpower not to cry out as his fists rained down on her already battered body.

Steve continued to hit her while Jack drove around aimlessly. After a while, Steve stopped to catch his breath. Madeline gingerly lifted her head to take the opportunity to see where they were. Jack had taken them to the lake outside of town. Since it was the middle of January, all the summer cottages were dark. Madeline wondered if they were going to leave her there to die.  
  
They slowed down and Jack turned around and slapped Madeline as hard as he could. When she still wouldn't agree to their plan, he told Steve to push her out of the car and let her walk home. Steve did just that, pushing her out into the snow without a jacket. They sped off amid a squeal of tires. Even at such a low speed, she hit the ground hard enough to have the wind knocked out of her, and add a few more bruises. Madeline didn‘t have the desire or the energy to get up from where she had landed. 

  
~~~~~

 

Miss Parker was sitting in front of the tv, which was on, but wasn't holding her attention. She was thinking about the past, something her father would have disapproved of, had he known. She was interrupted by the slam of a car door and the sound of someone hurrying away.  
  
She reached for her gun- it was never far from reach- and headed to the front door of the cottage she had turned into her year-round residence.  
  
"Probably some trick of Jarod's," she muttered as she neared the door. She had learnt early in her search for Jarod to expect anything and everything from him.  
  
With the gun aimed in front of her, she descended the steps leading to the front door. At first she saw nothing of interest on the snow covered landscape but then noticed a dark form near the side of the road.  
  
"Great!" she said, wondering what it could be this time. What new thing had Jarod decided to torture her with now? Possibly another animal, she thought, remembering the bunny he gave her only a few weeks ago. Miss Parker made a mental note to feed him and clean his cage after she cleared this up. Could be a DSA containing yet another clue to her past...  
  
Miss Parker crept toward what she was now sure to be courtesy of Jarod. She had the gun ready to shoot if it turned out to be Jarod himself. Whatever it was, it wasn't moving. Now standing directly over it, Miss Parker could see that it was a woman.  
  
"Hey." Miss Parker said to get her attention. She hadn't loosened her grip on the gun.  
  
The woman slowly rose to a sitting position to see who had addressed her. Miss Parker quickly hid her surprise when she saw the girl's bruised, bloody face. And it was a girl, hardly more than a teenager.  
  
"Who are you?" Miss Parker growled.  
  
"Madeline."  
  
"Madeline what?"  
  
"Stanley."  
  
"Did Jarod send you here?"  
  
A pause and then, "I don't think I know anyone named Jarod." 

  
~~~~~

 

Madeline had just made up her mind to stay where she was and hopefully die when a harsh voice made her look up. She painfully got into a sitting position to see a tall, brown haired woman holding a gun aimed directly at her. Behind her a house was lit up.

"I don't think I know anyone named Jarod." Madeline said after trying to remember if she knew a Jarod.

Miss Parker, who was getting cold, decided they should continue the interrogation in the house, "Well, I don't know who you are but come inside so I can find out."

Madeline slowly, every movement hurting, got up and headed into the house ahead of her. Miss Parker ushered her into the room where the tv was still on.  
  
"Who are you?" Miss Parker asked again.  
  
"Madeline Stanley. Who are you?"

"Now, about Jarod." Miss Parker didn't answer the question, "Why did he send you here?”

Miss Parker was surprised that the girl wasn’t the least bit scared of her, or the gun still pointed her way. Even without a gun, she was used to people quaking in their boots around her.

"I don't think I know any guys named Jarod and if I do, he didn't send me here." Madeline's voice was flat.  
  
"Then who did? Did they do that to you?" Miss Parker didn't like looking at this girl's bruised face and haunted eyes. It entered her mind that Raines could have sent this girl, a little warning not to get too nosy. But she dismissed the thought almost as soon as it entered her mind, knowing Mr. Raines wasn't the kind of person to play games. If he had any idea what she, Sydney, and Broots have been doing lately, they'd all be pushing up daisies.  
  
"Steve and Jack did most of it and dumped me out here. He wants me to walk home but I'm not going to this time. I'd rather lay out there and die."  
  
Miss Parker blinked at the statement, spoken so matter-of-factly. She relaxed her grip on the gun, sure by now the girl was harmless but not willing to let down her guard completely just yet.  
  
"Who are Steve and Jack and why would they want to hurt you?"  
  
"Steve's my stepfather and Jack sells him most of his crack. The governor likes young prostitutes and they wanted me to kill him. When I said no, they thought if they beat me up a little I might change my mind. I didn't, so they dumped me."  
  
 _"You're_ a prostitute?" Miss Parker had a hard time believing it. Minus the bruises, the girl was the poster child for the all-American, popular teenager with the perfect life.  
  
"Yeah. But Steve didn't ask first- he just took the money and left." Miss Parker detected bitterness and betrayal in her voice now.  
  
"And your mother lets him do this?" Miss Parker regretted it the second she saw the effect it had on the girl. Madeline looked hurt as a tear rolled down her left cheek and made a trail through the blood from her nose and split lip.  
  
"Mom died two years ago."  
  
"Your father doesn't care?" a picture of her own father came to mind but she resolutely pushed it away.  
  
"He died in a car accident when I was ten."  
  
"I should probably take you to the hospital, huh?"  
  
"No, I'll be okay." seeing the skeptical look on the woman's face caused her to add, "Nothing‘s broken. Just, do you have any aspirin?"  
  
Miss Parker left to get it. She took the gun even though at this point she was sure the girl was harmless. Old habits die hard. Returning with the aspirin and a glass of water, she found Madeline hadn't moved from her spot on the couch. After Madeline had swallowed the pills, she looked at Miss Parker with panic in her eyes.  
  
"You're not going to make me go back, are you?" she reminded Miss Parker of Bunny when he got scared, eyes wide and darting, ready to bolt.  
  
"No." Miss Parker paused for a moment, then continued, "You can stay in the guest room for the night and I'll figure out what to do with you tomorrow."  
  
She led Madeline upstairs to the room that used to be hers, pointing out the bathroom at one end. She headed back downstairs to find one of her old nightgowns for the girl. When she met Madeline back in the bedroom, the blood was gone from her face, making the bruises even more visible than before. Miss Parker handed her the nightgown and examined Madeline's face more closely. Both eyes were bruised, the right one nearly swollen shut. Her cheeks were both huge bruises and her lips were split and swollen. Her neck was also bruised, as if someone had tried to strangle her.  
  
"The gun's on the nightstand by my bed. Don't try anything." the girl was obviously harmless and Miss Parker wondered what her mother would think of her if she knew how she was treating the poor girl.  
  
"Who are you afraid I'm gonna shoot? You, or me?"

Miss Parker softened her tone to add, ‘If you want to take a shower, everything you need should be in there.”

“Thank you,” Madeline gave her a grateful look before heading towards the bathroom.

Miss Parker went back downstairs and put the gun next to the charging phone in her own room. Remembering her promise to Bunny, she went to his cage in the corner of the living room. Taking the white rabbit out, she cuddled him under her chin. She sat for a few minutes with no real thoughts going through her head. Finally, she got up and gave him more food.  
  
"I'll do the rest tomorrow after I figure out what to do with Madeline," she said as she put him back in his cage and went to bed.  
  
She could hear the shower going above her for a long time as she tossed and turned. While Madeline fell into a deep sleep almost as soon as she laid down, Miss Parker wasn’t so lucky. Every time she fell asleep, she'd wake up minutes later after having a nightmare, the same one over and over. Sometimes it was her mother getting beat up by a shadowy figure and sometimes Madeline was getting beat up by a different man with no face.

One nightmare around 4 am had Mr Raines beating Madeline up. Her mother tried to stop him from hurting the girl, saying she was innocent and hadn't done anything to deserve it. He stopped, but then turned on her mother. Miss Parker could see her father standing motionless in the shadows.

She knew she'd never fall back asleep after that one so with shaking hands she grabbed and managed to light a cigarette.

 

In the room above her, Madeline awoke with a start. For a moment, she tried to figure out where she was. She relaxed when she remembered that she was safe for the time being. Then she thought of Miss Parker, who never did introduce herself. Madeline wondered if the demons chasing her were similar to the ones she hoped to now be able to put behind her. People don't keep guns within reach at all times without a good reason.

Wondering what the future held in store for her and knowing for the first time in years that she really had a future, Madeline drifted back to sleep. 

  
  
Two hours later, Miss Parker decided to get up. She took a shower to try to shake off the bad feelings her nightmares had left. Then she dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. The Centre would have to live without her for the next few hours. The gun was unmoved on the nightstand and Miss Parker decided to leave it that way. On the way to the kitchen, she checked on Madeline and found her still asleep.

In the kitchen, Miss Parker searched for something to make for breakfast. There wasn't much. They would have to settle for corn flakes. Checking to see if she had milk, she found some bacon but it had expired a month ago.

Miss Parker closed her eyes and remembered standing in this kitchen on an already hot summer morning watching her mother cook bacon and eggs, or better yet, pancakes from scratch. No one made pancakes like Mama did.

"Hi."

Miss Parker turned around to see Madeline standing in the doorway as if afraid or unsure about entering. She had obviously washed her clothes in the sink or shower the night before, as they were considerably cleaner. Her face looked a little better after a good night’s sleep, but Parker still found herself uncomfortable looking the girl in the face.

"Corn flakes is all there is," she said without apology.

Madeline sat at the table. After Miss Parker poured two bowls full of cereal and added milk, she brought them to the table and turned around to get them glasses of orange juice- which expired a few days ago, but how bad can orange juice go? When she turned to put them on the table, Madeline's bowl was almost empty.

"Could I have some more, please?"

Once seated again, Miss Parker asked, "When was the last time you ate?"

"What day is it?"

"Thursday."

"Tuesday I had some fries." Madeline told her matter-of-factly.

"All you've eaten in two days is some French fries?"

"Yeah, Steve's crack is more important than my dinner. I just have to hope someone gives me a little more money than Steve expects so I can stop by McDonald's or something." A good night's rest had helped bring some expression back to Madeline's face and voice. Now on her third bowl of cereal, Madeline still hadn't slowed down. Miss Parker watched the girl eat and still didn't know what she was going to do with her. She wasn't about to keep her, that's for sure. Maybe Sydney would know what to do.

"What am I going to do with you?" Hoping the girl would have a suggestion.

Madeline shrugged and continued eating.

"Do you have any other family?"

"No. All my grandparents are dead and mom and dad were both only kids."

Noticing the empty bowl, Miss Parker asked if she wanted any more.

"No thanks. You know, you never told me your name last night." Madeline pointed out.

Again, Miss Parker had a hard time believing this polite, obviously well-mannered girl was a prostitute.

"Miss Parker.”

Madeline raised her eyebrow slightly at the formality of the answer as she finished her juice, but wasn’t about to question the woman who had literally saved her life the night before.

“Okay," Miss Parker said in her usual clipped manner, "let's go."

"Where?" Madeline immediately got nervous, still afraid she'd be returned to her stepfather.

"To see a friend of mine who will help me figure out what to do with you." Miss Parker knew Sydney would have more ideas than her. Besides, the kid could probably use a shrink.

"Who and where?" Madeline was still somewhat wary, not completely trusting the woman standing in front of her puffing on a cigarette. The past few years had made her very untrusting.

"My friend Sydney is a psychiatrist and we work together." Miss Parker was about to leave when she remembered Madeline didn't have a coat. She got two, an old one for the girl and her regular, long, black leather one.

They drove in silence for maybe ten minutes, each thinking about all they'd lost in their lives. When they pulled into view of the Centre, Madeline gasped in shock at the  
immense stone building.

"Is this where you work?"

"Yeah," Miss Parker remembered when she was younger and her mother was still alive, how she had had the same reaction every time she saw the Centre. Now she just hated it.

"What's it called?" Sometimes curiosity is a stronger emotion than pain.

"The Centre."

"I've never heard of it, what does it do?"

"Stuff." Miss Parker answered, not about to tell the girl the truth- that it steals children and locks them away for years and probably tortures them, too.

Madeline was silent as they parked close to the entrance- Daddy had seen that she got a prime parking spot. They headed inside to the elevator and Miss Parker tried not to think about the significance this elevator had in her life. Once in, she pushed a button and they started going down.

"What's SL mean?" Madeline asked, having noticed most of the floor buttons said SL and then a number.

"Sub Level.” She pulled out a cigarette and noticed Madeline watching her, "Do you have a problem with cigarettes?" Not that the answer mattered- no one could stop her from smoking, not Sydney's warnings about cancer, not Broots' constant coughing when she was around, and certainly nothing this girl could say.

"Not really." Madeline knew she didn't sound convincing, "Regular cigarettes are better than what Steve smokes, I guess. But my grandmother died of lung cancer."

In answer, Miss Parker pulled out her lighter. They reached their floor and Miss Parker led the way to Sydney's office. It was empty but she knew Sydney. He was around somewhere and Broots would know where. She picked up the phone and called his cubicle.

"Broots." as always, he sounded nervous.

"Do you know where Sydney is?"

From the tone of her voice, Madeline figured whoever she had called was someone she didn't like very much. She hadn't been around long enough to know Parker always sounded like that. She was silent as the person on the other end of the line answered.

"Miss Parker, um, yeah, he, uh, just left my office."

"Jarod?" Miss Parker sounded more interested, alert, making Madeline wonder if this was last night's Jarod, and who he was.

"Yeah. He left Sydney an e-mail and we were trying to figure it out."

"Was he going back to his office?"

"I think so." He expected her to say something more but all he got was the dial tone. With a sigh, he turned back to the computer and Jarod's puzzling message.

"He's coming." Miss Parker told Madeline, "Let's just hope he doesn't make any detours." If Syd decided to stop by the sim lab or something, she knew it could be hours before he showed, "How old are you?" She asked, since Sydney would probably want to know.

"Sixteen."

Before either woman could say more, Sydney walked in.

"Miss Parker." He greeted as his gaze went from her to the injured girl standing next to her. Madeline couldn’t believe he didn’t seem shocked by her appearance. Then he settled his questioning gaze back on Parker. She walked over to where he still stood in the doorway.

"Her name's Madeline, her bastard of a stepfather dumped her in front of my place last night. He's been prostituting her. I figured you'd know what to do with her more than I would."

"Hello, Madeline. You can sit down." He had assumed that quiet, reassuring voice Miss Parker knew he used with children performing simulations.

The girl sat down, never taking her eyes off of him, as if afraid he was going to attack her. Miss Parker leaned against the filing cabinet by his desk.

"What were you doing by the lake last night?"

"My stepfather left me there."

Realizing she had already heard this, Miss Parker decided not to waste the whole day and go see about Jarod's e-mail, "I'm going down to see the e-mail, Syd."

As soon as Madeline realized she was leaving, she rose from her chair in alarm. Miss Parker walked over to her and displayed a rarely seen kindness.

"Don't worry, he's harmless. I'll be back in ten minutes."

Madeline barely knew this Miss Parker, but somehow she was able to see beyond the woman’s tough exterior and knew she could trust her, and thereby Sydney; so she settled back in her seat.

"Why did your stepfather leave you there?" Sydney continued once they were alone.

"Because I wouldn't kill the governor for him and Jack."

Even Sydney, the psychiatrist who'd heard it all, couldn't hid his surprise, "Excuse me?"

"For some reason- probably a really stupid one- Jack hates the governor. The governor has a thing for young prostitutes so they wanted to send me to him and then have me kill him. I refused 'cause I'm not about to add murder to my list of sins and they thought if they hit me around a little I'd change my mind. I guess they were afraid I'd make a lot of noise so they took me for a ride and got fed up with me refusing so Steve dumped me in front of her house."

"Did he expect you to go back?"

"Yeah. I've always gone back before because no one else ever helped me, not even the police."

"You've gone to the police and they didn't do anything?" He didn't find that as hard to believe as one might expect. Sydney didn't believe for a second that the Blue Cove PD could be completely oblivious to all the illegal happenings at the Centre.

"Yup. Once after I got beat up really bad, I went and they didn't believe me. They just laughed in my face. And all those times I had to go to the emergency room, no one did anything."

"Is there no one you can go to?"

"If I did, do you think I'd be here right now?" She snapped.

"There has to be someone."

"Nope. Right before it started, Steve moved us down here from Boston, and didn’t enroll me in school, so I don’t know anyone around here. I looked for Mom's address book to call her best friends, but it was gone."

Before Sydney could answer, the phone rang. He listened, said ,"I'll be right there," and hung up.

"I have to see to something. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Okay." Madeline said with a tired sigh.

Miss Parker headed back to Sydney's office after her daily torture of Broots. She was upset about Jarod's seemingly impossible e-mail. Upon entering the office, she saw Madeline staring off into space and the chair behind Sydney's desk empty.

"Where's Sydney?"

"He got a phone call, an emergency or something, I guess."

With a sigh Miss Parker leaned up against the wall and pulled out another cigarette, "With Syd, we could be waiting here for hours."

As if to prove her wrong, Sydney walked in and sat down without an explanation.

"So what's the verdict?" Miss Parker wanted to know.

"None has yet been reached, Parker."

"Well, I don't have all day!" she snapped.

"We could bring you," he spoke to Madeline and ignored his foul tempered colleague, "to Dover. They'd probably put you in a foster home until you turn 18. How old are you?"

"Sixteen since October."

"But, I believe foster care should only be used as a last resort."

"Why?" Madeline and Miss Parker asked simultaneously.

"As a psychiatrist, I've heard horror stories about abused children being put into foster homes where they only receive more abuse."

"I don't even think that should be used as a last resort." Madeline told him firmly, "I'm not escaping Steve only to have someone else take his place."

"Of course not. We'll forget that one," after a thoughtful pause he continued, "If only we could find a family member or friend! What about godparents?"

"Mom's best friends all through school. He moved to Russia or someplace after she died. I told you, I have no one!"

Sydney guessed why she was snappish and wanted to calm her fears, "No matter what, we are not going to send you back to Steve. We could also find someone who'd be willing to take you in and become your legal guardian. You would have to got court to legalize it and probably again to try Steve because they'll ask why you want your guardian changed."

"So they'd arrest him and we‘d go to court?" Madeline was beginning to get upset again.

"Yes, you would be the prosecution's key witness."

"No! He knows too many people, he'd send someone to kill me."

"Madeline, we'd get you protection. We--"

"NO!! You don't get it, he knows drug dealers, hit men, mobsters! They'd find and kill me!"

"Okay, I'm sure we can get around that." seeing how agitated she was, he continued against his better judgment, "We could not even take it to court, once we found the person, we could forge the legal guardianship papers."

Miss Parker almost dropped her cigarette, she was so shocked at the words coming out of the mouth of someone she thought she knew so well. She managed to get out a, "We could?"

"Broots could probably do it. If not, Jarod might once I tell him why it's needed."

"Jarod!" Miss Parker scoffed.

"Yes, Miss Parker, Jarod." Sydney repeated calmly.

"But who's going to want me? What if Steve sends someone to bring me back? Most of them would kill their own twin for a gram of crack. Who'd want to take a risk like that?"

Madeline looked so dejected that without even thinking, Miss Parker said, "I would."

Sydney looked ready to have a heart attack from the shock. Miss Parker couldn't believe she'd said it but had some idea when she saw the look on Madeline's face.

"Really?" Madeline couldn't believe the woman who'd held a gun on her last night and had seemed so eager to be rid of her this morning would be willing to do this.

"Well, until other arrangements can be made." she said quickly. _God, what had she done? What would her father say?_ Madeline was smiling at her in such a way that gave Miss Parker the uncomfortable feeling the girl could see right through her.

"Come on, let's go home." Miss Parker breezed out of the room without so much as a good-bye to Sydney, who sat smiling behind his desk. Madeline gave him a grateful smile before following.

 


	2. Olympic Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeline meets Angelo and learns about what really goes on at the Centre.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Everyone except Madeline and her school and gymnastics friends belong to NBC. Thank you for creating such wonderful characters. 
> 
> Original Author's Note: In Home I had said at one point that Madeline was 17 and then later 16. She is really supposed to be 16 and still is about sixteen and a half in this story. Sorry for any confusion! : - ) And I'm not sure of the driving laws in Delaware so I just decided it would be 16 and a half for a license so Madeline could drive.

**Olympic Dreams**

_Part 2 of the Madeline Series_

_by Danielle :-)_

 

_Mid-Late April_

_A Friday, Blue Cove High School_

 

"What?!" Madeline asked in disbelief. She was sitting in her Sociology and Psychology class and one of her more outspoken classmates had just said that if he saw a man and a woman (who was considerably smaller than the man) fighting, he would not step in to stop it, because "it's not my problem".

Madeline's hand had immediately shot up. The teacher noticed and called on her. "What?!" she asked. "How could you not help her?"

"It's not my problem," he said in this isn't-it-obvious tone.

Madeline shook her head, "But if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem! So it is your problem!"

"You really believe that?" one of his equally vocal friends broke in.

"Yes!" she said passionately. "I can't understand how you could live with yourself knowing you could have done something but didn't. I mean, it's not like you're small, you'd have no problem helping out." he was a big, intimidating football player, at least 6'5" and 250 pounds.

"So, you're telling us you would go up and approach them?"

"Yeah!" now it was her turn to adopt that isn't-it-obvious tone. "If I didn't, I- I couldn't live with myself," she struggled to explain how she felt, "Like... I'd always feel bad, guilty because I didn't help her."

"What if he then turned on you?"

"Well, then at least I tried." she said, "But I wouldn't expect you to understand it."

He opened his mouth to say more but the bell rang and everyone filed out to head to their next class.

~~~~~

The last bell of the day (and week) had just rung and Madeline was heading to her locker at a fairly fast pace.

"Hey Madeline." the voice of her best friend Sandy said behind her.

"Hey." Madeline replied.

Sandy had been her best friend since kindergarten up in Boston, but had moved to Dover the year before Madeline’s mother died. They’d been pen pals and talked on the phone for a while, but had lost touch once Madeline’s world got turned upside down. During that time, Sandy and her family had moved to Blue Cove. It had been a complete surprise her first week of school to find her old best friend walking down the hall towards her.

"Hi guys!" their friend Amanda said. She had been going in the opposite direction but had pulled a u-turn to walk with them, "You guys busy today?"

"Yeah." Madeline answered, "I'm finally caught up on all my makeup work so I'm starting back at the gym today!"

Her friends could see her excitement. She’d been working nonstop since enrolling back in school, catching up on almost a year’s worth of material. She was now set to graduate a year behind Sandy and the rest of her peers. Amanda had been her first friend from her new class. There hadn’t been time to get back into gymnastics at all during the catch-up process, and Madeline was raring to go.

"Really? That's great!" Amanda said.

"I'm kinda nervous," Madeline admitted, "I haven't done so much as a cartwheel in over two years!"

"You don't need to be! You were always great at it! You probably would have gone to the last Olympics and won gold if you hadn't stopped." Sandy told her.

"I know... but what if I've lost it?"

"You haven't!" Amanda fairly yelled in exasperation.

"Yeah, you can't lose a talent that good." Sandy added.

Madeline smiled at their attempts to reassure her. She did feel better. They parted for their lockers and a few minutes later she met up with Amanda again, who she drove to and from school. They had to sit in Madeline's white ’96 Mustang for a few minutes before someone let her pull out.

After dropping Amanda off, Madeline headed to the Centre to see Miss Parker and let her know her plans.

As always, the size of the place shocked Madeline. She could not get over it; or the fact that Mr. Parker ran it. Then she sighed when she remembered how much he hated her.

~~~~~

Mr. Parker had been very upset when he found out what his daughter had done. It hadn't bothered him that she had forged the documents- he was actually proud that she had had the guts to do it. What enraged him was the fact that she had opened up both her home and her heart to a stranger.

He had refused when his daughter approached him about getting Madeline a car so she wouldn't have to drive her to and from school every day since no buses got anywhere near the lake. When he said there was no way he was buying her a car, she had told him "Then I will." He also didn't like the fact that his daughter had seemingly given her free rein of the Centre- letting her come and go as the teenager pleased. She may have only dropped by for appointments with Sydney and to visit with his daughter, but he still thought it was very inappropriate.

His Angel had actually _refused_ to let him ban her ward from Centre property. She stated that Madeline had already formed a connection with Sydney as her psychiatrist, and that him losing one measly hour a week wasn’t going to be the downfall of the Centre or their search for Jarod.

Madeline brought out a defiance in his daughter that he did not like. Actually, he blamed her and Jarod equally, but was only able to take out his ire on her. But Madeline didn't know his reasoning. All she knew was that her guardian's father hated her and she tried to avoid him whenever possible.

~~~~~

After finding Miss Parker’s office empty, Madeline headed down to Sydney’s. She knew they often worked closely on whatever it was they did at the Centre; although for the life of her, she couldn’t get a straight answer out of anyone about what exactly it was they did.

"Hi." Madeline greeted Miss Parker, Sydney, and Broots. She had trusted Broots almost   
instantaneously while he was going through the forgery process.

"I'm finally all caught up on my work!" She told them triumphantly.

Because of the unusual circumstance that led to Madeline dropping out of school, they’d allowed the special arrangements that had left her only one grade behind her peers, although it probably should have been two. Every day for the past three months she had stayed after school with one teacher or another finishing up the work from the year Steve hadn’t allowed her to finish up in Boston as well as the first semester of the current year, while simultaneously attending classes with the sophomore class.

It was an insane amount of work, and left her virtually no free time; but she’d made up her mind to have it completed by the beginning of May. She’d done it with a week to spare. Now it was time to start gymnastics up again. She had stopped when her mother got cancer, more than two and a half years ago. At the time, they had been talking about moving somewhere so that Madeline could attend an elite gymnastics camp as a way to better prepare for the Olympics. When her catchup work started winding down, she began looking into local gyms to find out which one would be the best fit.

"I'm going to the gym to talk to Jackie about starting up again. Hopefully she’ll see enough promise still in me to agree to take me on. And I think I'll stay and see what I can still do even a little decently."

"Okay," Miss Parker said indifferently.

Madeline had gotten used to the two Miss Parker's- the cold, uncaring in-front-of-others Miss Parker and the warm, compassionate alone-at-home Miss Parker.

"Good luck," Broots said as she left.

She passed Mr. Raines, who was going in the room she was just leaving; his cold, steel, ever-present companion still needing oil. She greeted him cheerfully by name with a big, pleasant smile. Sure, he was a little creepy, but Madeline wasn't afraid of the sick old man and she couldn't understand why everyone else was. She saw him as just a dried up old guy very much past his zenith whom the Centre only kept around out of loyalty. She had yet to share her opinion with anyone, though, or look into why he was so feared.

~~~~~

By the time she pulled up in front of the gym, her hands were clammy and she was filled with the fear that she wouldn't be able to do it.

The pleasant sound of bars squeaking and floors springing met her ears as soon as she opened the door. What a comforting sound all of it was! She hadn’t realized how much she missed the smell of chalk until that very moment. Jackie, the head coach/owner, spotted her as soon as she entered the gym. They had met briefly at various regional meets over the years, but Madeline was sure the woman wouldn’t have remembered

“Hi, I’m Madeline-”

“Madeline Stanley, yes! I remember you.” Jackie greeted her warmly, “Haven’t seen you around in a few years.”

“Yeah, my mom got sick, so I stopped, and then we moved down here… it’s been complicated. But I want to start back up again. I was wondering if you’d want to be my coach?" Madeline held her breath.

"Yes, Madeline!" Jackie answered as though she thought that was a stupid question to be asking, “I thought for sure someone with your skills would be going to Atlanta last year.”

Madeline could tell her enthusiasm was real, and the fact that she had noticed Madeline enough to remember her name spoke volumes. The churning in her stomach began to settle down with the combination of the familiar sounds and smells, and Jackie’s clear interest in training her.

“I don’t have any leos that fit me anymore." Madeline told her new coach.

"Okay, go find something out back. I'll meet you in the locker room when my class is over in about ten minutes."

Madeline nodded and went into the back room where leotards and work-out clothes were on sale for a fraction of what they cost elsewhere.

What worked and what didn't came back to Madeline as if she hadn't been away. She found a pair of black spandex shorts and a black tank top that resembled a sports bra. This wasn't her usual attire these days by any means but she knew it was the only thing that would be comfortable during practice and allow her the necessary range of movement. Then she grabbed a large gray sweatshirt that had "JJ's Gym" written on it in black lettering. Jackie tended to keep her gym cool like most coaches; and ever since moving in with Miss Parker, she had preferred loose clothing that hid her body from attracting very much unwanted attention. Sydney said that was normal given what she’d been through.

She went into the locker room to change. There were a half dozen shower stalls against the left wall, with doors much like a bathroom stall.

_Good,_  Madeline thought, _More privacy._

Five-foot tall beige lockers lined the entire back wall as well as the back half of the right wall. Next were a couple of bathroom stalls and sinks.

She sat down on one of the benches in front of the lockers. She didn't know what to do with her street clothes until she had a locker, not wanting to inadvertently steal someone else’s, so she left them on the bench and headed out to stretch.

 

~~~~~

 

Three hours later, Madeline let herself into the cottage. She was tired as well as sore, but content. She had been so busy grieving and then out-running fists that she hadn't realized how big a part of her life gymnastics really was. She still had a ways to go until she'd be ready for meets but when she and Jackie had sat down to talk about it before she left, they had agreed that even in a few hours, Madeline had improved drastically.

Jackie said that some of the problem was that Madeline needed to get used to the changes her body had gone through in the past few years. She had grown four or five inches and her figure had filled out somewhat. A giant grin spread over Madeline’s face as she remembered how Jackie said that going to the Olympics still wasn’t completely out of the question for her.

Miss Parker wasn't home but Madeline knew her late hours. She greeted Bunny and sat down to do the little homework she had. Then she called Sandy to tell her how practice had gone. Her best friend had only encouraging words for her; and Amanda‘s cell went to voicemail.

Bunny was being noisy, which Miss Parker and Madeline took to mean he wanted attention. Bunny was a very person-friendly rabbit who loved to cuddle. Holding him, she remembered overhearing Miss Parker tell Sydney once that Jarod had given the soft white rabbit to her for Christmas.

Madeline wasn't sure about the true story behind Jarod. She knew he had to be more than the valuable, irreplaceable employee that everyone made him out to be. She didn't know of anywhere else that would go to one-hundredth of the trouble that the Centre did trying to bring this "employee" back.

He was always sending Miss Parker things that either put her into a blind rage or a deep depression. Madeline knew that her sometimes pitiless guardian's frequent business trips were all about finding Jarod. She wondered if he was a lover that did her wrong and she was hunting him down with her father's permission; but she knew better than to ask, no matter how much she might want to know the answer.

She had just put Bunny back in his cage with the intent to go on-line and check her e-mail when the phone rang. Thinking it was Amanda returning her call, she picked it up with a cheerful, "Hello!"

"Oh... I must have dialed the wrong number.... I'm sorry." A rather sexy male voice said in confusion.

"Wait!!" Madeline cried. Her answering the phone with a welcoming "Hello?" threw people who were used to a snappish "What?!". She had gotten into the habit that if someone said they had the wrong number, Madeline asked them, "Who were you looking for?"

"A Miss Parker but I have her number in speed dial. She must have just changed it. I'm very sorry to have-"

"This is Miss Parker's. But she's not here right now. Can I give her a message?"

"So..." the pleasing-to-the-ears voice said slowly, like the person who owned it was deep in thought figuring something out, "she has a secretary at home now?", he finally asked in a serious voice.

Madeline laughed before answering, "No. I'm Madeline. She's my legal guardian."

Jarod was silent on the other end of the line for a moment as he tried to process this surprising information, "I heard rumors that she‘d taken a girl in, but thought for sure it couldn‘t be true… are we talking about the same Miss Parker here? The one who lives by the lake and works at the Centre?"

"And doesn't like her first name. That's the one." Madeline added, trying extremely hard not to burst out laughing again. This was by far the best reaction she had ever gotten.

"What makes you think she doesn't like her first name?" the man asked.

"No one uses it. In fact, no one seems to even know it!! And she refuses to tell me. But who are you?" answered the girl who was getting sick of talking to a complete stranger.

"My name is Jarod." he said cheerfully.

Madeline's eyes widened, _Who better to ask about the real story than the infamous Jarod himself?_

"Okay, so who are you?" _Why not cut to the chase?_

"Today?" the confusion returned to his voice, as well as what Madeline thought to be wariness or suspicion.

"Um, in general! Who the hell are you?" she said impatiently. "Why is Park looking for you so hard?"

"Why did she say she was?"

He seemed to like answering questions with some of his own and that was a quality Madeline couldn't stand. If her curiosity about his role in Parker’s life wasn’t so strong, she would’ve hung up on him.

"Everyone says you were a wicked valuable employee and you left and she's trying to get you back."

Jarod started laughing so Madeline was now completely sure she hadn't been told the truth. She waited until he calmed down and could explain.

"Hardly!" he said while still chuckling, "Do you really want to know the truth, Madeline?"

"Yes."

"What's your definition of an employee?"

She couldn't see where this was going but she told him "Someone who works for someone else or a company or something and gets paid to do a specific job, I guess."

"And is it voluntary; can they leave if they wanted to?"

"I don't know..." Madeline rolled her eyes, "I guess. Well, it depends. Like, if they're teenagers their parents might be making them, or they might not be able to get another, or one that pays so well. But mostly I think it is." _What does this guy want to hear? He's worse than my English teacher!!_

"Good. I was not an employee by any definition. The Centre kidnapped me when I was a child. I-"

"What?!" Madeline broke in, "Now you're lying worse than they are!"

"Madeline, I'm not. Please, just hear me out? Please?"

"Alright." she agreed, and listened in disbelief for the next half hour.

"Do you know what happened to Parker's mother, Catherine?"

"Yeah. She killed herself. Why?" Madeline answered slowly.

"Catherine Parker did not kill herself. The Centre killed her."

"Why?" Madeline snapped. She was ready to hang up on this outrageous story she was slowly being told.

"Because they found out she was rescuing children, smuggling them out of the Centre."

"So why didn't she save you?" Madeline asked, triumphant, sure she had found a catch in his story.

"She died before she could rescue us." Jarod sadly informed her. Then he continued and didn't stop until he had told her of his escape and activities since then. The last thing he asked her was if she believed him.

"I don't know." she admitted before hanging up the phone.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

_The Next Morning_

Madeline went to the Centre at the same time as Miss Parker because she had an appointment with Sydney, like she did every Saturday morning.

About fifteen minutes into their session, he got a phone call.

"He what?" Madeline heard him ask, "Yes. Yes. I'll be right down."

His brow was knit in concern. Sydney often had to leave the office so Madeline didn't mind too much. She liked having time to think about her newly resuscitated gymnastics career.

She was lost in thought when a noise behind her caused her to jump. She whipped around in her chair and saw a man climbing out of the air vent. The ease with which he lowered himself to the floor told Madeline that he did that sort of thing a lot.

Once landed, he looked at her and smiled. Actually, it looked more like a grimace. His face was kind of twisted up and his hair was long and unruly with bushy sideburns.  
Madeline immediately got this sense that she had no need to fear him (even though she didn't know why) and softly said, "Hi."

He continued to stare at her so she said, "I'm Madeline."

When he still said nothing, she signed it, thinking he might be deaf. Still nothing. She stared back at him for a few minutes before sighing.

"An-ge-lo." He finally said with a little difficulty, like he didn‘t talk much.

Madeline smiled and held out her hand, "Nice to meet you Angelo."

He smiled his strange smile and took her slim hand in his.

"Do you live here?" Madeline asked. He nodded slightly.

"You're the strong, silent type, aren't you?" When he didn't answer, she grinned and answered her own question, "Yup!"

Hoping he'd be able to help her figure out everything Jarod had told her, she decided to see if she could get some answers out of the puzzling man Jarod had spoken so highly of on the phone.

"Do you know Jarod?" If he didn't even know Jarod, Madeline would know he was lying. And she hoped he had been lying. She didn't want to believe that anyone she knew could be involved in things as horrible as those Jarod had told her, especially Parker.

Again, all she got was an almost imperceptible nod.

"He told me all this bad stuff that the Centre has done. But he can‘t be telling the truth, can he? Park couldn‘t work somewhere like that!"

She looked mournfully at Angelo. He moved over to the air vent and looked over his shoulder at her. He clearly meant, 'Follow me.'

Madeline looked at him, then at Sydney's vacant desk, and back. Then she looked at her watch and back to Sydney's desk.

"Big problem." Angelo said.

Her gaze returned to him and she sighed in resignation, "That better mean Sydney's gonna be gone for a while." she warned him as she went over to where he stood by the vent.

He climbed in and helped her rather awkward entrance into the secret passageway of the Centre. She then followed him this way and that and before long she was clueless as to where in the enormous waste water treatment pl- ah, Centre they were. Madeline's knees were just starting to go numb when her guide stopped. Crawling up beside him, Madeline saw a depression in the silver aluminum of the vents. That depression was overflowing with what looked to Madeline like miniature CDs.

"What are they?" she whispered because she didn't know if anyone might be nearby to hear them.

He nimbly jumped over the pile and reached for something in the shadows. He pulled out a silver briefcase. It appeared to be heavy as he set it down next to her with a thud. Then he opened it up.

The top half of it consisted of a screen. The bottom half had lots of little slots, apparently for the small CDs.

Madeline looked to Angelo for an explanation. She guessed that he was going to show her rather than use words and it was confirmed when he reached into the pile and haphazardly pulled one out.

He stuck it in the machine and shades of black and white filled the screen. It confused Madeline- at first she thought she was looking at a surveillance camera in a prison. The small room was furnished only with a cot, simple table, and chair. Then in the bottom left hand corner, Madeline noticed the words _Jarod, For Centre Use Only_. After a moment, a young boy entered the room and sat down at the table, resting his head wearily on his arms.

"That's Jarod?" she asked in disbelief. Angelo didn't answer but his silence had stopped surprising her.

"Okay, so he lived here. That doesn't prove everything else he said was true.” she explained out loud to herself.

Angelo reached back into the pile. This time he was searching for a particular one. He kept flipping them over to look at the back, for what, Madeline wasn't sure. When he found the one he wanted, he slipped it in the small slot at the front. It showed a kicking, screaming, obviously terrified adult Jarod being dragged into a room. Madeline's eyes widened as she watched Mr. Raines instruct people about what to do. She held her breath as he was locked in a decompression-type chamber. By the time his heart stopped, she was crying.

Angelo stopped it once they got Jarod's heart beating again. There was no more doubt in Madeline's mind as she crouched in the cool air vent, his screams still echoing in her head.

"How can Park work here?" she asked in a voice filled with horror.

"Scared... sad… trapped." Angelo answered.

Madeline rolled her eyes- she had been looking for a slightly better answer than that.

"I have to go back. But I look awful!" she dried the tears from her face with a corner of her shirt.

Angelo nodded, which got a laugh from Madeline. He looked at her quizzically with his head slightly tilted to the right. This just made Madeline laugh more, because her dog RoseBud had always done the exact same thing. She headed back in the direction they had come, still chuckling. She went about a dozen feet before remembering she had no idea how to get back to her psychiatrist's office. Angelo led her back to the still-empty office. After seeing her safely returned to her chair, he headed off to parts unknown. Madeline grabbed her compact out of her back pocket to see just how bad she looked in good light. Her face was a little red but other than that she figured there were no clues to give away her secret. Their secret.

Madeline didn't have long to wait before the aging psychiatrist returned. He sighed heavily as he sat down.

"Everything alright?" she tried to ask nonchalantly.

He only shook his head in a silent refusal to answer the question before redirecting her to their interrupted discussion.

~~~~~~~~~~   
Early May  
The Centre

"I'll be home hopefully by nine." Miss Parker said by way of goodbye.

"'Kay." Madeline agreed and then headed down the hall towards the elevators that would lead her out of this depressing place. A little over halfway there, she turned around. _Good,_ she thought when she saw that the hallway was empty. She stopped in front of a door and looked both ways, checking to see if the coast was still clear. Safely in the dark utility closet, Madeline felt her way over to the air vent. She easily climbed in and within minutes, was sitting in Angelo's DSA hiding place.

While she waited for her friend to show up, she thought of the past few weeks. _I wish Jarod would call me again!_ She hadn't heard from him since their first conversation. _I have to tell him I believe him now! Angelo's been great showing me the DSAs and where the children are and everything, but I need someone I can talk to- with! I can talk to Angelo all I want, but I need someone who'll answer my questions. And I need to know how much Park knows without actually asking her!_ Angelo had showed her Corridor 15; and on her own, she had begun to introduce herself to and get to know the children who lived there.

She looked up expectantly when she heard her silent friend rustling towards her. Madeline smiled a greeting and couldn't tell if his next expression was returning that smile or merely one of his many seemingly uncontrollable twitches, as she had decided to call them.

When he headed down a vent at a fairly fast pace, Madeline knew to follow. She felt a chill run up her spine as she wondered where and to whom he was leading her this time.  
After crawling for an eternity, Angelo finally stopped in front of a vent cover. Madeline pulled up next to him and rubbed her knees gently. They had toughened up considerably as she had gotten to know the Centre via Angelo's vents but she still hadn't yet acquired the stamina he had.

They were in a new part of the Centre. New to Madeline, anyway. They appeared to be over a boiler room that looked deserted. Madeline couldn't see why Angelo had brought her there but before she could voice these thoughts (she still talked to him even though he rarely answered), her strange friend was removing the grid.

The heat of the room- which was much bigger than Madeline had originally thought- overpowered her and made breathing difficult. If Angelo was having the same problems, he didn't let on. He just walked through the maze of pipes and tanks. Why he was leading her to a dark, almost black wall, Madeline wasn't sure; but she trusted him enough to follow.

He moved to the right of the wall. When Madeline stopped behind him, she saw a stairway leading down. Not knowing what level they were on to begin with, Madeline saw nothing too unusual in this hidden entryway; except for the fact that it was hidden in a rather peculiar spot that didn't seem too easy or quick to get to.

On the stairwell now, Madeline stopped when she smelled smoke. Not cigarette smoke like she had gotten used to breathing around Miss Parker, but real fire smoke. The place looked like it had been burnt. Madeline could hear wind howling through the wreckage and the plip-plop of water in the distance.

Madeline grabbed Angelo's arm for reassurance before he could get too far ahead of her.

"Where are we?" she demanded with a slight tremor in her voice.

"S... L 27." Angelo replied slowly.

"What?! There are only 26 sublevels in the Centre, Angelo." Madeline's voice was full of disbelieving scorn.

He just shook his head and started walking. Not wanting to be alone in so eerie a place, Madeline kept a tight grip on his arm.

Angelo was almost acting as a guide, showing his guest around the secret abandoned floor. There were a few rooms with the charred remains of furniture that could have been cells (as Madeline called the rooms where the children lived). Other rooms had tables and chairs with restraints. Madeline shivered as she thought of the torture that must have gone on down here.

Madeline's heart nearly stopped in one room. There was a biohazard suit hanging against the far wall. Angelo grabbed it by the shoulder and quickly spun it around. The abrupt movement caused the skeleton inside to shift. The sound of the glasses that were still perched on it's nose sounded like cannon fire in the eerie silence when they hit the plastic mask. Madeline could not remember ever having been so startled as she grabbed Angelo's arm with a shocked squeak. He looked at her with his face all screwed up but let her pull him from the room.

"Can't we leave now, Angelo?" she asked with a very obvious tremor now in her voice.

He didn't answer, only led her to yet another room. Madeline hesitated in the doorway, afraid of what might be in there. But Angelo was extremely insistent. First he just looked at her. When she didn't go over to him, he went to her and pulled her into the room.  
A quick appraisal of her surroundings assured Madeline that there were no corpses in this room. All she saw was a steel examination table. Curiosity got the better of her and on further inspection she saw that it had leather shackles on it.

Seeing something on the floor on the other side of the table, Madeline cautiously moved around to that side. There was a pile of maybe two dozen needles laying on the ash-littered floor. Madeline shivered at the sight; she hated needles.

"Now we leave." she said in a no-nonsense voice. Angelo headed out of the room and   
Madeline added, "You had better be heading towards the exit, Mister!"

She couldn't help smiling when he turned to look at her, thoroughly perplexed. She linked arms with him and they headed to the stairs in silent camaraderie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now this series breaks off into two different versions, Version One (this one, "Cooking With Madeline") being my original direction for the series (although it's been so long I started it, I'm not sure quite where it's going anymore), and is not quite finished yet, although I‘m working on it again. Version Two ("The Empty Cottage by the Lake") deals with the idea that Miss Parker didn't survive her third season finale gunshot wound, and is completed (and will be posted after I finish this one). :-)


	3. The Greatest Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeline and Jarod meet face-to-face for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note 1990s Version: Disclaimer: Well, folks, here we are again... sorry it's been so long. Jarod, Miss Parker, etc. belong to NBC. They would belong to me if I was a millionaire. But I'm not (yet), so I'm afraid I can't buy NBC and give our favorite show a consistent time slot and the promotion it deserves. It also means I can't give Lyle lots more air time- sorry Sarah. *g*   
> Another reference to Michaela.. I promise her story is in the works. :-) 
> 
> Authors Note 2010 Version: Michaela’s story can be found as “Practice Will Eventually Make Perfect”- sorry, it‘s another unfinished one... Just made this part a little more user-friendly, no real changes.

**The Greatest Love**

_Part 3 of Version One of the Madeline Series_

by Danielle :-)

 

_Spring_

_Catonsville, Maryland_

_A Small Restaurant_

"Hi." Madeline said shyly. She was just realizing that talking to someone on the phone was completely different from actually meeting them face to face, for the first time.

"It's great to finally meet you!" Jarod said warmly as he took her hand. The sincere warmth in his dark brown eyes helped put Madeline at ease.

"You, too," she smiled and knew in her heart that what she was doing (and about to do) was completely right.

"Angelo says 'hi." she continued easily now.

Jarod smiled fondly, "I wish I could have taken him with me the last time I was at the Centre."

Madeline couldn't keep the broad grin off her face at this perfect start to what she had to say to Jarod today.

"Let's get him out. Let's get them all out." she said, staring intently at his face.

"What?" he blinked, clearly not expecting that.

"This is what I wanted to see you about. I want to rescue Angelo and the other children at the Centre." she said with an intensity that made the brilliant Pretender nervous.

"Madeline, you don't know what you're getting yourself into. You don't know even half of what the Centre is capable of! And what do you mean, other children?"

"There are like, a dozen children at the Centre, only a few of them aren't really children anymore. But, yes, I do understand. I understand that these kids are put through hell in that place- maybe even worse. I've seen them, heard them talk about it. I've seen the DSA's about it, Jarod. I know what a horrible place the Centre is."

"Maybe you do, but-"

"But nothing! I know more than a good 99% of the people who work there! And those that do know are too scared to do anything about it."

"But they have a reason to be scared! You don't know what they'd do to someone who did what you're talking about doing."

"They'd kill me like they killed Catherine Parker." she said this quietly, but with no less determination.

Again, all Jarod could do was blink.

"Miss Parker's mother didn't commit suicide. Catherine Parker rescued some of the children. They found out and killed her.” Madeline was leaning forward in her seat as she continued to speak in a voice full of passion and determination.

"I know that." Jarod couldn't believe she had found out in a matter of months what had taken him years. "Did you tell Miss Parker this, any of it?"

"No. She's not ready to hear it yet."

Jarod sat back in his chair, wondering where she had acquired such wisdom and insight at such a young age.

"They might find out you did it." Jarod saw how set she was on doing this, and knew he had to dissuade her.

"I'm sure they will eventually figure it out." she stated calmly.

"They'd probably kill you."

"Yes." she simply said.

"How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen."

"You're still so young! You've got your whole life to live!"

"It's not worth living knowing I had the chance to save them and didn't." she held up her hand to stop him as he opened his mouth to argue, then continued speaking directly from her heart, "I couldn't live with the knowledge that those children were being tortured and I didn't do anything about it, Jarod, don't you see? It would kill me more surely than they would."

"Guilt does not cause death, Madeline, or I'd have died long ago!"

Madeline just rolled her eyes, not having the patience to explain about literal translations and figures of speech.

He started to continue, "It wouldn't-"

She was furious now, her face dark, "It would! And don't you dare try to tell me how my heart and conscience would react!!" she was crying now, tears sliding down her face, "I'm a religious person, Jarod. In the end, I'll be standing before God no matter what I do, and I can't stand before Him someday and try to justify why I---who had the freedom to act----didn't help them. Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

Jarod held up his hands to show her he had no more arguments against what she said, but from his face, she knew he wasn‘t happy about this at all.

"Catherine Parker was a wonderful, selfless person. Do you know how much I wish I could make Park see that? But her father..." she trailed off, unsure of how to word it.

"…may have had something to do with his wife's death." Jarod finished somberly.

Madeline nodded, her sad eyes matching his.

Despair tinged her voice slightly as she continued to speak. "He's made Park hate her mother, think she was selfish and weak. How can I make her see that it's the complete opposite?"

"I don't know." Jarod admitted, "I've stayed up night after night trying to answer that question, but no answers come to me." his voice carried unutterable sorrow.

"I don't want to die anymore, Jarod- that‘s not what this is about. I'm happy and safe, and know how much potential lies in my future. But I'm willing to give it up to save them. I had a great life before my mom died, and this year has been great, too. Just about all those children have no memory of anything like that. And they deserve it. I've had my chance and now it's their turns. Am I making any sense to you?"

"Yes, I can understand it." he paused, wondering if he should continue. After a moment he did, "Catherine Parker described it in much the same way."

"What? How do you know?" Madeline watched him closely.

"In one of her safe deposit boxes, I found her diary. She started keeping it when she was first forming her plan to rescue us. She wanted her daughter to find it someday. She was sure they'd find out, too, and wanted her daughter to know the truth because she didn't think her husband would give it to her."

"She sure hit that nail on the head." Madeline commented under her breath.

"Nail?" Jarod was lost.

"Never mind... Did you send the diary to Park yet?" She wasn't sure if Miss Parker would show her something so personal.

"Not yet." he admitted, "It's another thing I don't think she's ready for."

Madeline nodded comprehension, "Do you have it with you now?"

"No."

"Do you think it would be okay for me to read it?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sure, since you seem so intent on this crazy plan of yours.”

She smiled at the disgruntled tone in his voice, but was now certain he’d help her.

"Good. I'm not sure when I'll be able to meet you again, but I should have some weekend competitions coming up in the next couple of months. I can just tell Park they last longer than they do, or start a day earlier, so we can meet again."

"Okay." he said, "I'll bring the diary for you to read then."

"Thanks." she meant it from the bottom of her heart.

"Madeline." he said in the most serious voice she had ever heard him use, "Promise me you won't try anything before we've had time to plan it together."

"Don't worry, Jarod, I'll be good."

He nodded shortly, "You leave now, and I'll wait a few minutes before I go."

"'K." She stood to go.

Jarod stood, too, pulling her to him for a hug. She returned it with a smile, wondering how such a great man could have come out of the evil of the Centre; but eternally grateful for it.


	4. Surprises Around Every Corner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Given the title, do you really expect me to tell you? ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Lightning still hasn’t struck my submarine, hence “The Pretender” doesn’t belong to me.   
> Dedication 2/27/10: Dedicated to RaChell for giving me such a warm welcome upon my return to Missing Pieces. <3 I couldn’t have done it without the “Toy Surprise” transcripts from PretenderCentre. =)

**Surprises Around Every Corner**  
 _Madeline Series Version 1, Part 4_  
By Danielle =)

 

“Wow.” Madeline murmured under her breath at the breakfast table one spring morning.

  
“What?” Miss Parker didn’t look up from pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Madeline put the paper down.

“Steve’s dead.”

Surprise flitted across her guardian’s face, but Madeline couldn’t see it from the table. Miss Parker turned around slowly, taking a careful sip of the steaming beverage as her mask once again fell into place. She leaned against the counter nonchalantly. 

“Your step father?”

“Yeah, the police think it was a drug deal gone bad. He was beaten unconscious and choked to death a couple hours later on his own vomit. The police went through the apartment and found a huge stash of drugs. I guess he turned to dealing after I left.” She looked down, deep in thought for a moment; then turned troubled grey eyes upwards, “Do you think it makes me a bad person to feel kinda glad they said it looked like he was beaten slowly over a long period of time?”

“No, Madeline, no one could blame you for that after what he put you through.” she said kindly, but then turned back into the Miss Parker everyone else knew her as, “That bastard got what he deserved.”

“I feel better now that he’s dead… like, safer. I think I’ve always been a little afraid he’d come back for me.”

“I wouldn’t have let that happen.”

“’Cuz I’ve grown on you, haven’t I?” Madeline lightened the mood, eyes twinkling.

“Don’t tell anyone-” Miss Parker started.

“…It’ll ruin my reputation.” Madeline finished with her. She grinned impishly and got up to put her dirty dishes in the dishwasher before heading off to school with a light heart.

~*~

Jarod finished reading the same article a few hours later, glad that Madeline’s stepfather had gotten what he deserved. He wondered if Miss Parker had heard the news and couldn‘t resist calling to find out.

“What?!” greeted him on the other end of the line a moment later.

“Have you read the paper this morning, Miss Parker?” 

“What paper?” she seemed distracted.

  
“The local paper I know gets delivered to your doorstep every morning around 7. Today‘s issue had a very interesting article on page 4 about a certain dead drug dealer.” 

He knew that would get her attention. The other end of the line was quiet for so long that he thought he’d lost the connection.

“You’re taking a big risk if you’re near enough to have seen the paper, Jarod.”

“I‘m afraid I‘m no where near Delaware, Miss Parker. The paper just happens to have an online edition.” Then his voice turned serious, “Did Madeline see it?”

“What do you know about Madeline?” She clearly didn’t appreciate him bringing the girl up.

“I know she’ll sleep a lot better now that that creep is dead. You have to admit it would‘ve felt good to beat him half to death.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked after a moment of stunned silence.

“I know you’re not the Ice Queen everyone makes you out to be, Miss Parker. Caring for Madeline isn’t something to be ashamed of. I wish I‘d been there to get in a few blows and I haven‘t even met the girl.”

“Too bad someone else got there first. It would‘ve been a nice addition to your growing resume.”

“Speaking of my growing resume, I start my new job in a few hours. Give my best to Madeline.”

He hung up before she could reply, partly because he knew it drove her nuts. He almost felt like she was hiding something from him, which in any other conversation wouldn’t have disturbed him anywhere near this much.

He knew Miss Parker had changed a lot since they were kids, but surely she hadn’t hardened enough to actually kill a man. _Or had she?_ his inner voice asked.

  
Miss Parker put the phone back in it’s cradle with shaking hand, disturbed by the conversation as well.

_Did he know?_

She replayed the conversation over in her mind’s eye searching for the answer. Why else would he have called, if he hadn’t suspected her?

_There’s no way he could possibly know._  She tried to reassure herself a few minutes later. The article gave no hint whatsoever leading to her as a suspect in Madeline’s stepfather’s murder.

She worried briefly about Jarod’s thirst for justice coming down on her head next. But no, Jarod only sought justice for good people who were wronged.

Besides, the bastard was surely in a hellacious amount of pain when she left, but she knew enough to know that the beating she’d given him, while brutal, hadn’t been enough to kill him. That sorry excuse for a man killed himself by getting drunk enough to choke on his own vomit after she left. 

_Not my fault at all._  She decided, then chided herself for allowing Jarod to cause that brief moment of doubt. The matter was instantly forgotten as she got back to finding said escaped lab rat.

~*~

Madeline still couldn’t help but be slightly awed every time she entered the Centre. Because of her connection to the Parker family, she had a permit to park in the gigantic parking garage for her weekly therapy sessions with Sydney. She’d been living with Miss Parker for nine months and was by now a familiar figure around the building.

Occasionally she’d get stopped by an eager-to-impress new Sweeper or security guard , but she’d pleasantly explain who she was and suggest they call Miss Parker for confirmation. 

The first time she’d innocently suggested that, she’d been surprised to see the look of fear Miss Parker’s name brought to the young guard’s face. She soon came to realize that her guardian was much respected and feared throughout the imposing building and would propose calling Miss Parker to make them sweat a little, just for the fun of it. 

She hadn’t run into any hassles recently, though. She smiled and said a friendly greeting to those whom she came across regularly.

She entered the empty elevator and pushed the button for SL-15. The doors were nearly closed when a hand reached in and stopped them from closing fully. An attractive man in his mid-30s followed the hand into the elevator. His smile was friendly, but Madeline got the distinct impression that he was anything but. In a word, he made her skin crawl. She politely returned the smile and was dismayed when he chose a floor five levels below hers.

“I haven’t seen you around here before.” 

“I’m just here for an appointment.” she replied, hoping that would be the end of it.

He looked her over appreciatively and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re awfully young to have business at the Centre, aren’t you? Who are you here to see?”

He seemed more suspicious and hostile than the people she usually met that it sent a cold chill through her, making her so nervous that she could barely stammer out Sydney's name.

“Who let you in? They should have had the doctor meet you in the lobby!” he chastised.

  
“I have regular meetings with him. If you have any concerns, you can contact Miss Parker. She knows I’m here.”

Madeline felt certain that would put an end to his uncomfortable line of questioning. Unfortunately, though, this man didn’t seem to mind hearing that tidbit. In fact, he became more interested and gave her another unnerving once-over.

“How do you know Parker?”

She was saved from answering as the elevator doors opened. She audibly sighed with relief when Sydney entered.

“Hello, Madeline.” he greeted her with a smile and stepped in between the two passengers. She smiled gratefully at him.

  
“Mr. Lyle.” was said with less enthusiasm, and Madeline was glad to know she wasn’t the only one who apparently didn’t like the man.

“Doctor.” Mr. Lyle replied coolly. 

Despite the fact that the girl seemed to be hiding beneath a sweatshirt easily two sizes bigger than necessary, she carried herself with a natural poise that made him think she must be a dancer or something similar; so he imagined she must have a killer body under all that fabric. And the fact that she knew Miss Parker and Sydney piqued his interest all the more.

They traveled the remaining few floors in silence. Lyle stayed behind when Madeline and Sydney got out but Madeline could feel his eyes on her until the doors closed fully.

“Whoever that Mr. Lyle guy was, I hope I never cross paths with him again! He creeps me out worse than Raines! He‘s totally the type of guy that would have been a john!”

Their hour long session revolved around that and similar topics. Broots was waiting in the large outer room of Sydney’s space when they exited.

“Broots, would you mind walking Madeline to the garage elevators?”

“No, not at all!” the balding technician agreed.

  
They chatted easily the whole way about Debbie’s pleas to get a white rabbit like her idol, Miss Parker’s. Broots wasn’t sure if she was old enough to take care of a pet, so Madeline told him about growing up with Siberian Husky dogs and how beneficial the responsibility was. She wistfully told him about the two gorgeous red and white dogs that had been a part of her father’s life even before he met her mother. Not long after their wedding, they adopted a third Husky, black and white. Madeline came along not long after that addition and had always considered that one “her” dog. Her stories of the dogs’ antics made them both laugh, and before they knew it, they were standing next to Madeline’s car.

“Thanks. I’ll see you later.” she smiled warmly. Broots was so awkward and sweet- she loved him to death.

She headed home in good spirits, the sinister Mr. Lyle out of her mind.

~*~

It was another six weeks before Madeline ran into Mr. Lyle again, this time leaving the Centre. 

“Hello again. Madeline, isn’t it?” he may have come off as simply charming to anyone else, but Madeline had seen a similar look in men’s eyes far too often to buy it. He was sizing her up like she was another potential conquest.

“Mr. Lyle.” she did her best to channel Park’s fear-nothing-and-no-one attitude, trying to bury her unease in the hopes that he wouldn’t be able to detect it. She was certain he was the type who’d feed off of it. 

She tried to leave the interaction at that, moving around him. He took a quick step forward in an attempt to block her exit but she deftly maneuvered around him. _Thank goodness for gymnastics!_  She thought as the elevator doors quickly opened for her.

Luckily, the elevator to the parking garage was full of employees heading home for the weekend, and he didn’t follow her in. She took a shaky breath, feeling his eyes on her again until the doors closed fully.

~*~

Madeline approached her coach with an important question later that week. Since her run-in with Lyle by the elevators, she hadn’t been able to shake the dread his presence caused her. Despite the fact that he hadn’t actually done anything to her during their two brief meetings, she felt violated by his stares and apparent interest in her.

On the one hand, she wanted to tell Miss Parker about it because she had a feeling that Park could do just about anything. On the other hand, though, she didn’t want to worry the woman; who had more than her fair share of stress. Never having been one who wanted to burden others, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

“Jackie, do you know where I could sign up for a self defense class?”

“It’s funny you should mention that Madeline- I was having lunch with a friend of mine the other day and he was talking about setting up some local self defense classes. He asked if any of my girls would be interested.”

“I would definitely be interested.” Madeline told her eagerly.

~*~

Mr. Lyle picked up the phone on the first ring.

“Miss Parker’s ward just arrived.” the Sweeper on the other end informed him.

“Thank you, Stephen.”

Miss Parker had Sam. Raines had Willie. Lyle had Stephen. Getting the man as his pet Sweeper had been a stroke of luck. The burly man’s loyalty had been easily bought with an extravagant salary, and so far he’d proven worth every penny by helping Lyle clean up some messy personal situations. 

He’d given the man orders to alert him when Madeline was on premises.

He leaned back in his expensive leather chair and looked at the clock on his desk, making careful note of the time. Despite, or maybe because of, how skittish Madeline had been during their previous meetings, he was drawn like a moth to a flame. Underneath her unassuming façade, he sensed a very strong will. Mr. Lyle liked challenges, and sensed that breaking her will would be a formidable one indeed.

Madeline left Sydney’s office in a relatively good mood despite the serious nature of their sessions. He had told her Miss Parker should be in her office catching up on paperwork and she had decided to pop in and invite the woman to lunch. She knew Park liked to keep her personal and professional lives well separated, so she‘d understand if her offer was turned down. _It doesn’t hurt to try,_ she reasoned.

She headed up to the main lobby and started across to the bank of elevators that would take her to the executive offices.

From behind her, a hand came down on her shoulder and she tensed reflexively. She turned towards Mr. Lyle, who was smiling apologetically.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“That’s all right.” she gathered herself quickly, taking comfort in her recent self defense classes. 

“Would you care to join me for lunch in the executive cafeteria?” he smiled winsomely at the girl by his side, grabbing her elbow and trying to lead the way.

She stopped dead in her tracks, saying “No, thanks.” so seriously he thought she must not have heard him correctly. He turned on the charm a little higher.

“Come on, Madeline, don’t make me eat alone.”

“Sorry, but no.” she stated firmly, looking him squarely in the eye. 

He affected a wounded expression as he asked why.

“For one, I’m only seventeen.”

“I know that! I only thought that since I work so closely with your guardian, we should get to know each other. What kind of a man do you take me for?!”

She decided she might as well lay it all out on the table because he wasn’t a man to look past any lies she might try to placate him with.

“Everyone else may buy this act you’ve got going, but I don’t.”

He saw the truth of the quiet statement in her eyes, and realized that the rumors he’d heard about how she ended up on Miss Parker’s doorstep must be true.  Getting to know her in the hopes of gaining Parker‘s trust looked like it wasn‘t going to work. And continuing to try would only risk bringing Parker’s wrath down on his head, something he definitely did not want. Raines had told him all about how and why the doctors had to redo his skin graphs recently.  He doubted a little guilt trip would work, but couldn’t resist a last ditch effort.

“You’ve mistakenly characterized me as someone I’m not, but if you don’t care to challenge your prejudices, then it’s your loss.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Enjoy your lunch, Mr. Lyle.”

With that, she pulled herself up a little straighter and turned back in the direction she’d been heading.  
  
She stood in front of the impressive cherry wood doors leading to Park’s office, wondering if she needed to knock. She didn’t usually knock on Sydney’s door, but he was expecting her. Since Miss Parker wasn’t expecting her, she figured she should probably knock.

She knocked firmly on the door and heard a familiar, “What?!”

Assuming that served as ‘come in’ as well as ‘hello?’ on the phone, Madeline pushed open the door and entered.

“Hey.”

Miss Parker looked surprised to see her.

“Madeline! What are you doing up here?”

“I hope it’s okay I came up without calling from Sydney’s office,” She began uncertainly, “But I wanted to see if you’d had lunch yet.”

“You probably should call in the future because I don’t spend a lot of time in my office, but it’s fine. Besides, it’s high time I took a break. I take it you haven’t eaten yet either?”

“Nope. Do you want to go downtown?”

“We can just go to the executive dining room- the chefs there are as good, if not better, than any downtown.”

“Am I allowed to?” Madeline wondered.

Miss Parker got up from her desk with a smile.

“You’re with me.” she said simply and led the way.

~*~

“I’ve got my appointment with Sydney at one. Do you want me to go with you to the cemetery later?” Madeline asked Miss Parker when she came downstairs that Sunday morning.

Miss Parker looked up from the morning paper she was trying to read, surprised that Madeline had remembered today was the anniversary of her mother’s death- she’d only mentioned the date once. Then again, Madeline knew full well the significance of the anniversary of a parent’s death.

Parker smiled appreciatively and nodded, not quite trusting her voice.

Madeline sat down across from Miss Parker with her cereal and juice, noticing for the first time Park’s tailored pantsuit. 

“Are you going in to work today? You don’t usually go in Sundays.”

“Just for a little while to take care of a small problem with a client.”

Madeline figured it must have something to do with Jarod, since chasing him was all her guardian really did. She found it amusing to listen to all the different ways Miss Parker phrased it.

“I’m coming right back home after my appointment.” Madeline informed her as she put her dirty dishes away and headed outside for her morning run.

Running had started as a temporary way to get her stamina and lung capacity back up for gymnastics. She soon realized how much it energized her and got her days off to a good start so she got into the habit of running at least 5 days a week. Weekdays, she got up at 5am to get in a good run before school, but on weekends she enjoyed sleeping in. 

Today, Sunday, she was heading out a little after 10. She ran three laps around the lake, each lap being about three quarters of a mile. She didn’t listen to any music when she ran because she enjoyed the sounds of nature and liked to be aware of her surroundings at all times.

After her appointment with Sydney, Madeline surreptitiously headed to the old supply closet she frequently used to enter the ventilation system. Sydney had mentioned the fire security test being held today, which she assumed was a fancy way of saying fire drill. The Centre seemed even more empty than a typical Sunday because of the test, so it was the perfect opportunity for a brief visit with Angelo. 

Not surprisingly, he was waiting for her with the grate opened. He always seemed to sense when she was coming to see him.

“Madeline sad. Daughter sad, too. Daughter not alone this year.” 

“No.” Madeline smiled softly at him, “We’re going to the cemetery together later.”

“Good friend.” 

Angelo nodded approvingly, causing Madeline to smile widely this time. She never could stay unhappy long around the strange man-child.

He turned around and crab-walked away in that peculiar way of his. Madeline may have been a flexible gymnast, but that mode of travel had never been comfortable to her so she quickly scrambled after him on hands and knees.

They ended up outside of Sydney’s office, hearing Miss Parker say, “The tech room is the first place they would look.”

“Who? There’s nobody here!” Broots replied in consternation. Madeline knew Debbie had dance classes on Sunday afternoons, and that Broots enjoyed being there to support her.

“The people trying to kill my father!”

Madeline’s eyes widened in shock at that. It did seem quite fitting though, for them to kill Mr. Parker on the anniversary of his wife’s murder.

Sydney came in a few minutes later, asking if she’d been able to reach her father. They walked towards the center of the room to continue the discussion, leaving Broots to continue his search for the Arkham file.

Angelo and Madeline moved around the periphery of the room to get closer to Sydney and Miss Parker.

“Daughter sad. Everyone sad.” Angelo said and began to crab-walk towards his stash of DSAs. As he began searching, he reiterated, “Daughter sad.”

Madeline didn’t know what was on the disk he was looking for- most likely something to do with the day Catherine Parker died or to help Miss Parker figure out who was behind her father‘s assassination order. When he found the one he needed, he stuck it in a box of Cracker Jack and they headed off again.

Suddenly, the lights around them went out and alarms started going off.

Madeline grabbed Angelo’s ankle to stop him.

“What’s going on? Would all the power go out for a fire drill?”

“No fire drill. Arkham.”

“This is getting serious, Angelo, I think I’m going to cut my visit short today and get out of here. Whatever’s going on, I can’t risk getting caught. Can you get me to the parking garage from here?”

“Lockdown. Garage no good. Lobby good.” Angelo headed back the way they had come.  
  
After crawling for what seemed like an eternity to Madeline’s knees, they approached a vent to the lobby. Madeline was about to stick her head out when they heard footsteps approaching and she shrank back. 

A man picked up the phone on the wall near them.

“Give me the sim lab. This is Hayes.”

Madeline realized that the inter-Centre phones probably wouldn’t be working just as Hayes found no one on the other end of the phone. Just then, seven shots rang out in quick succession and he fell to the floor. Madeline covered her mouth in horror and quietly moved further from the scene. Angelo followed a moment later, looking equally shocked.

“I want to get as far away from here as possible.” Madeline whispered urgently.

“S L 26.” Angelo said slowly.

Madeline knew it was rarely used, and that the assassin would probably take Mr. Parker out shortly after his helicopter landed; so SL-26 would offer them relative safety while she figured out what to do.

Angelo nimbly exited the vents near the elevators at SL-26. Madeline awkwardly crawled out a few minutes later, standing up painfully. She took some deep breaths and arched her aching back, then went to the pillars in the middle of the hallway, leaning against one wearily. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to steady her frayed nerves. Jarod had warned her that sneaking around the Centre was a bad idea and she wished with every fiber of her being she had listened to him.

She tensed up when she heard a shout from the elevators which sounded suspiciously like Park. As Madeline and Angelo quickly moved to the far side of the pillar, the yell was followed by three bangs against the wall and the elevator doors opening. Madeline couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she could recognize Park’s voice, as well as Broots‘. She huddled against Angelo‘s back, praying the two employees wouldn’t see them.

“Oh!” Miss Parker cried out when she came around the corner and saw Angelo. She reached around him and pulled Madeline out, stating, “I’m officially in hell!! What the hell are you doing here? You should have left hours ago!”

Madeline started babbling, hoping fervently that Park would believe her off-the-top-of-her-head story.

“Well, I had to go to the bathroom before I left, so I used the one by Sydney’s office, and as I was washing my hands, all the power went out and alarms started going off. The elevator wouldn’t work and no one was around and I tried to find Sydney but he was gone, too. Then he,” she motioned towards Angelo, “Came out of the vents and told me to come with him and I thought he meant to get me out of here but I have no idea where we are and-” She took a quick breath and looked Park over, “Did you get shot?! What the hell is going on, Park?” 

Madeline let the fear coursing through her show plainly on her face to gain even more sympathy from her guardian.

“It’s nothing. Everything’s going to be fine.”

Madeline inwardly breathed a gigantic sigh of relief that Park seemed to be buying her story.

“Broots, how’s the Arkham file coming?”

Broots sat down to check on his computer and Angelo followed him. He leaned over the tech’s shoulder and typed furiously at the keyboard.

“He’s speeding it up!” Broots exclaimed.

He and Miss Parker discussed what was on the file as Madeline tried to make herself invisible again.

“Toy surprise.” Angelo held out the box of Cracker Jack to Miss Parker.

“ I told you I don't want any.” she growled.

“Surprise.” he held it out again and Park reluctantly reached inside.

“It's a DSA.” Broots stated the obvious.

“And it's dated the day of my mother's death.” Miss Parker whispered and handed it to Broots to set up.

The four of them huddled together to watch Mr. Parker and Sydney discuss Catherine’s “suicide”. Madeline linked her arm through Miss Parker’s good one, silently offering support. Not for the first time, she wondered how the DSAs were always able to zoom in at the right moment. It’s like the Centre had it’s own editing department, splicing feeds from the various cameras in a room to make it look more like a movie than traditional security camera footage.

“Life goes on, Sydney.” a young Mr. Parker told the psychiatrist calmly towards the end. 

Once Sydney left, he sat down on the stairs and started to cry.

“Daddy sad. Must save Daddy.” Angelo implored once it was over.

“Okay.” Miss Parker took a deep breath and tried to think.

“Madeline, I want you to stay with Angelo. He’ll keep you safe. Once I get the power back on, Angelo, get her to the parking garage. The building should be clear, and you should be able to get out without anyone seeing you. No one can ever know you were here today, do you understand?”

She looked intently at Madeline, then at Angelo and Broots, assuring their silence.

Madeline gave her a grateful hug and whispered “Be careful.”

Madeline made it out of the Centre without running into anyone- the parking garage and grounds were eerily empty and silent. Madeline pulled into the driveway at 7:15.  She nervously paced around the house, hoping for Miss Parker’s sake that Mr. Parker was all right. She personally couldn’t stand the man because of the callous way he treated his daughter, not to mention all the things that went on under his control at the Centre. Somehow, though, Park still loved him, so Madeline couldn’t wish anything bad happening to him, because of how it would affect her guardian.

The phone rang at 7:47- she was keeping a very close eye on the clock, nervously checking it every couple of minutes.

“Hello?” she asked, hoping it was Park.

“Madeline, is Miss Parker home yet?”

“No, Jarod, not yet. Someone tried to kill her father, but I haven’t heard from her and I‘m getting worried.”

Jarod was silent for a minute, clearly not expecting her to know about the planned assassination.

“She was able to save him. How do you know about it?”

The whole story came pouring out in one gigantic rush as she continued pacing and keeping watch on the driveway. 

“Oh god, Jarod, do you think I’m going to be in the worst trouble ever?” she worried once she’d finished.

He stayed silent briefly again as he went over her story for holes.

“It sounds like a plausible enough story. You just really need to stay away from the air vents for a while to be safe.”

“Trust me, I’m not sneaking around the Centre again any time soon!” she promised fervently, “Park’s home- I’ve gotta go. Thanks, Jarod!”

Madeline’s stomach was in knots as she watched the car pull into the driveway at exactly 8:14. She sat on the couch and tried not to fidget. Madeline was a very honest person by nature, and had never intended to start snooping around the Centre when she met Angelo during that early therapy session while Sydney had stepped out. She didn’t like to lie to the woman who’d literally saved her life and opened up her home to her. Madeline just felt compelled to figure out what was really going on at the Centre so she could stop it. She’d never felt more driven by anything in her life, not even the desire to succeed at gymnastics had ever been so strong. She hoped that with Jarod’s help, Miss Parker would come around to their way of thinking and the three of them could shut the Centre down. Until then, though, she had to keep her extracurricular activities a secret.

“Is your father all right?” she asked, even though she knew the answer already, to keep up appearances, twisting around on the couch when Park entered the living room.

Miss Parker sat beside her with a heavy sigh and told her he was. She was missing the jacket she’d been wearing that morning. Her left arm with in a sling, and she had a cut along the top of her left cheekbone as well as a split lip. Her hair was a mess, and the stress of the day was written plainly on her face.

Madeline rested her head on Parker’s right shoulder, both taking reassurance from the other.

“Are you ok?” Madeline whispered after a moment of tired silence.

“It was just a small flesh wound. I‘ll be fine.” 

They shared a brief silence again.

“I‘m sorry.”

“What? Why?” Madeline felt like she should’ve been the one apologizing.

“I never wanted you to get mixed up in all this… insanity. I don’t know how I’m supposed to explain this to you.”

“I’ve had worse days.” Madeline pointed out calmly, leaving it at that, “I’m sorry we didn’t get to the cemetery.”

“My father wants to go with me in the morning.” 

Madeline knew he had never gone with Park in all the years since her mother died.

“At least something good came out of the day, then.” Madeline lifted her head and smiled slightly. She was about to breathe an internal sigh of relief and head to bed when Park spoke.

“How did you and Angelo get to SL-26?” 

“Through the air vents- I don’t know how but it seemed like we crawled forever. He said we‘d be safe there.”

“He did?” Miss Parker raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

“Well, not in so many words. Is he, like, brain damaged or something?”

“You could call it that.” Parker muttered under her breath.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just stay away from him.” she ordered.

“Is he dangerous? He seemed like a good guy.” the comment came out of her mouth before she could stop it. It seemed she wasn’t the only one, because Parker’s next words surprised her.

“Everything about the Centre is dangerous.” they were spoken almost to herself, as if she’d forgotten Madeline was there. Her eyes widened slightly as she realized what she’d just said, but Madeline thought it best to pretend not to hear her. 

“I’m going to bed.” Madeline announced.

“That sounds like a good idea.”

Madeline couldn’t help but notice the slight grimace on Park’s face as she stood.

“Can I get you anything before I go up?”

“No, thanks, Madeline, I’m fine.” her next words held a note of warning, “Just remember- today didn‘t happen.”

“Okay. Good night.” 

They went to their respective rooms and both took a long, hot shower to try to wash the day’s events away before wearily climbing into bed.


	5. Laughter is the Best Medicine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeline and Angelo overhear something highly amusing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This fic contains spoilers of the episode entitled "Homefront". So if you haven't seen the ep yet, don't blame me if you read this! Everyone and everything appearing in this fic belong to NBC and MTM Entertainment, except for Madeline and her involvement in the Centre, which belong to me. 
> 
> Author's Note: 12/14/98: I'd like to dedicate this fic to Ra-Chell, Sandee, AG, and Carolina, to whom, in my haste and joy at the beginning of this episode, I sent a spoiler post expressing my delight. I'm sorry if I ruined it for you, it hadn't even occurred to me that your different time zones had yet to see it. And I apologize for any mistakes and admit they belong solely to me because I want to get this out and distributed ASAP and am not sending it to my wonderful proofers AG and Nirvana like I normally would...

**Laughter is the Best Medicine**  
 _Madeline Series, Version 1, Part 5_  
By Danielle :-)

 

  
Madeline had only been at the Centre a few minutes, and had just met up with Angelo in the air vents. Before long they were cruising the vents looking for some amusement. They came to a rest behind the vent that was just inside the door of Miss Parker's office. They could hear into the hallway and had a good view of the room.

Madeline thought she could hear Miss Parker clicking down the hall and Lyle's voice gradually got near enough for them to hear that he was upset, "... but theft. Simply taking for the taking, has always escaped me as an admirable criminal pursuit."

Madeline looked at Angelo, wondering what he meant. She soon had her answer as Miss Parker answered her brother.

"A little bitter about your car being stolen?"

Madeline opened her eyes wide in surprise, then shared a grin with Angelo.

"Ten miles on the odometer, three hours filling out police reports, five pages of insurance fine print!"

Madeline quickly brought a hand to her mouth so they wouldn't hear the laughter that threatened to make itself heard. _This is too funny!_ she thought, but could not trust herself to speak.   
  
She was about to leave and go somewhere she could laugh unheard when Miss Parker sweetly said, "I know it's a little late to stop the happy fellows at the chop shop this time but..." she moved to her desk, "I saw this and I immediately thought of you."

She pulled the Club out from behind her back and handed it to her brother with the biggest grin Madeline had ever seen grace her guardian's face, "Consider if a little preventative medicine."

That was it- Madeline turned and left as quickly as possible while not making too much noise. Angelo followed and as they left, she thought she heard Lyle say something about hoping to get his car back in one piece.

Once safely deep within the air vents, Madeline stopped and started laughing, a loud, deep laugh that left her gasping for breath. She laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks and her sides felt ready to split.

Angelo stared at her in confusion for a minute, then couldn't resist letting the laughter claim another victim. When Madeline heard him, she stopped momentarily to look with wonder on her friend, who was by now helpless with childlike laughter. It   
gladdened her heart and soon she joined in again.

Neither could have said how long it was before they stopped laughing and lay side by side gasping for breath and pulling their sleeves down to wipe their eyes but once they had regained control, Madeline got up and said, "Come on, we might miss more."

They ended up outside Broots' room, after finding Parker's empty. Broots was speaking to Sydney, "Actually, it's fifty-nine million, nine-hundred thousand, six-hundred and twenty dollars. It's not every day we get ripped off to the exact penny!"

For the second time that day, Madeline raised her hand to her mouth to stop the burst of laughter that bubbled up in her gut when she realized that they were talking about Jarod and that he had just stolen almost $60 million dollars from the Centre. Her hand also prevented her from rejoicing at Jarod's latest attempt to taunt his former captors.

Even though Madeline had originally mistrusted Jarod, she now trusted him completely and was preparing to help him save Angelo and the rest of the children (even though he didn't know it yet).

Then Lyle came into the room and she refocused her attention on the frustrated words he spoke into the phone, "Once again; Officer, it's a black, 500 SL convertible, license plate Lyle 1... Well, it just didn't vanish."

Miss Parker came up behind him and shoved something into his chest. Madeline and Angelo couldn't tell what from their vantage point. Park grabbed the phone from her brother's hand and cheerfully and warmly said into it, "Found it. Thank you. Have a nice day." Madeline could tell she was enjoying torturing her brother.

"Jarod!" Lyle spat out.

Madeline listened happily while Broots described his invention, The Hound. Lyle wasn't listening, he was opening the package his sister had given him. He was at the perfect angle for Angelo and Madeline to clearly see what was in it. It was his license plate, they could clearly see _Lyle 1_ on the beat up, slightly burned metal.

Madeline and Angelo looked at each other and grinned.

Broots finished his explanation with, "Too bad it doesn't work for cars."

That was too much for Madeline to take. She barely got away fast enough before cracking up.

After that bout, she looked at Angelo and said, "If laughter really is the best medicine, then after today we are set for life, Angelo. Jarod rocks!! That's all I have to say." 


	6. Through the Gates of Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: It’s been 10 years, but unfortunately, I still haven’t won the lottery, so the wonderful series known as “The Pretender” still doesn’t belong to me. *sigh*
> 
> Author’s Note: 2/22/10- I haven’t written a fic in probably at least 8 or 9 years, but I recently watched all 4 seasons and the two movies (in less than a month!), and my Pretender obsession came back in full force, or maybe even stronger. I thought I might try my hand at a couple more Madeline fics, new ones as well as potentially finish one or two I never got around to finishing like I’d planned. We’ll see what happens!  
>  This contains spoilers for a lot of season 3 episodes featuring Thomas. I’d like to extend my eternal gratitude to the keepers and makers of the PretenderCentre’s transcript section, which helped me tremendously with this part. I took a lot of quotes from some episodes, with adjustments to include Madeline (she doesn‘t like to be left out =).

**Through the Gates of Change**  
 _Madeline Series- Version 1, Part 6_  
By Danielle Smiley-Face

 

Madeline drove along the road to the lakeside cottage as the sun was setting. The high school junior was more than pleased with the way her gymnastics routines were coming along and couldn’t wait to tell Park that her coach had just entered her into her first real competition since returning to the sport. It was a little over a month away, and she hoped her guardian would have enough advance notice to take the day off work to go with her.

When she pulled into the driveway, she was dismayed and a little curious to find her normal parking spot taken up by a red truck that had “Gates’ Restoration” across the side. Park hadn’t mentioned anything about having work done to their house. She parked behind Parker’s black sedan and climbed the stone stairway up to the front door.

Madeline stopped short at the entrance to the dining area when she saw an attractive man in his mid 30s standing with Miss Parker by the far wall.  
  
“Hi Madeline.” Parker greeted her a little more cheerfully than she normally would in someone else‘s presence.

“Hi.” the girl replied tentatively, casting apprehensive glances at the stranger.

“Madeline, this is Thomas Gates. He’s going to be sprucing up the paint in here. Thomas, Madeline.”

“Nice to meet you, Maddie.” Thomas said warmly, beginning to step forward with hand outstretched.

She looked at him sharply, “Don’t call me that!”

He apologized easily but she didn’t return his smile.

“Umm, yeah. I’ll be upstairs.” she muttered before turning on heel and gracefully hurrying up to her room.

“I’m sorry about that- her father was the only one who called her Maddie.” Miss Parker felt the need to explain.

Thomas looked questioningly at Miss Parker, “Is she your daughter?”

“No!” Parker was quick to reply, “I adopted her two years ago.”

“I knew you weren’t as tough as you pretend to be!” he smiled mischievously.

Miss Parker had a strange urge to get pulled into his twinkling eyes, but just asked in a tone that was all business, “When can you start?”

“How about a week from Monday?”

“All right. It will have to be done during the day, when Madeline is at school.”

He was definitely drawn to her and would love to drag the job out as long as possible in order to have more contact with her, but he knew she was an incredibly smart woman and didn’t want her to think he was taking advantage of her. His honest side made him contradict her.

“I’m sure I could get it done in two days if I was able to work through the whole day. I‘ll just be in your way for a week otherwise.”

She raised an eyebrow icily.

“During school hours only. If that is not acceptable, I‘ll find someone else for the job.”

“Client’s wishes.” he said amicably, although confused.

“I’ll have a key made for you and leave it under the back door mat.”

“That sounds like a plan, Miss Parker. Enjoy your weekend.”

He smiled warmly at her and let himself out before she could reply. She was very unsettled about how drawn to him she was. He made her feel something Miss Parker decidedly did _not_ like to feel, and that was out of control. He did not seem at all intimidated by her; and no matter how many sarcastic quips she fired at him, he still seemed intent on pursuing her. Miss Parker was suddenly finding she didn’t like changes to the status quo any more than Madeline did.

_Ahh… Madeline._ Miss Parker had read the apprehension in the girl’s eyes when she entered the room, and knew well where it was coming from. She only hoped that by insisting that Thomas work while Madeline was out of the house, the girl would be okay with it. She headed upstairs to fill her in on the situation.

The door at the top of the stairs was closed and Parker knocked and announced for clarification, “It’s me.”

She heard the click of the lock a few seconds later. She’d never known Madeline to lock the door before. Madeline opened the door before settling back on the cushioned window seat she loved. Parker sat beside her and they stared silently at the moonlight sparking over the lake for a few moments.

“When this was my room growing up, I used to love sitting here, reading for hours. My mother would have to drag me away for supper.”

Madeline turned to see a wistful smile on Miss Parker’s face, and couldn’t help smiling in return. She knew Miss Parker didn’t usually feel comfortable talking about her mother so it was always a treat when Park opened up to her about a pleasant memory from her childhood. She only wished Park had good things to relate about anything more recent.

The teenager remembered her news, and thought that might bring some joy to her somber companion.

“I entered into my first competition, for next month. It’s only a little regional thing, but it’s a good sign that I’m ready, and Jackie has faith in me.”

“Madeline, that’s great.” Parker smiled warmly.

“It’s on a Saturday afternoon. Do you think it’s far enough in advance that you could take the day off work? It’s only in Dover, so we’d be there and back the same day.”

Though she tried to offer the invite casually, Miss Parker saw how much her being there meant to the girl.

“As long as I don’t have a last minute business trip, I will definitely be there.” she promised sincerely, causing Madeline to smile brightly.

Madeline knew that “last minute business trip” was code for “a lead on Jarod”, but definitely wasn’t about to let slip that she knew anything about Jarod or Park’s real job duties.

“So, I didn’t know the house needed painting.”

“It hasn’t been painted since I moved in, and there‘s that water mark from last winter. Thomas will only be here during the day, while you’re at school.”

“But he’ll have a key, right?” Madeline worried.

“Yes, but he seems like a good, honest man. I had a friend run a background check on him, and he’s such a model citizen, it’s disgusting. Tell you what- as soon as he’s done, which will be by the end of next week, we’ll change the locks, ok?”

“If you have to go on a business trip next week, can I sleep over Amanda’s?”

Normally, she had no problem staying home alone when Parker went out of town. Knowing a strange man had a key to their house scared her to death. She’d come a long way in her work with Sydney, and knew her blanket fear of all men (except for Jarod, Angelo, Broots, and Sydney) was irrational, yet she hadn’t managed to shake it. Especially when they invaded her personal space.

Miss Parker agreed and decided the subject was settled so she moved on to the question of dinner. They both enjoyed cooking, so she homework was put aside and the unlikely pair went downstairs.

~*~  
  
Over the weekend, Miss Parker went on one of her business trips. As he often did, Jarod used the opportunity to call Madeline to say ‘hi’. He could tell she was troubled and asked what was going on, although he thought he already knew the answer.

Jarod knew almost as much about her as Park did, so she explained in a rush about Thomas Gates and the impromptu painting project Parker was having him undertake.

“He’s a good man, Madeline. You have nothing to worry about with him.”

“Jarod,” she began in a tone that made him picture her eyes rolling in annoyance, “I know you somehow know, like, everything that goes on at the Centre, but there’s no way you know about some random painter.”

“He’s not some random painter, Madeline. I met him on a Pretend a few months ago. He’s a good man. You trust me, right?”

  
“Absolutely.”

She knew Jarod well enough by now to trust his instincts when it came to people, and to know that he would never willingly put her or Miss Parker in even a remotely dangerous situation. He’d drop clues all day long that would drive Park mad, but would never intentionally cause her pain.

~*~  
  
School got out an hour early on Thursday because of a burst water main in the cafeteria. Madeline knew Thomas would probably still be working. She had overslept that morning and left her gym bag at home in her rush to get to school on time. After learning that Jarod knew and trusted Thomas, she felt comfortable heading home to grab her bag.

She arrived home to find him hard at work. He wasn’t painting like he was supposed to be, though. He was enlarging a basketball-sized hole in the wall.

“When did Park tell you to do that??”

“I was up on the roof earlier, and I noticed there’s a whole other room behind this wall. I‘m sure you two could use the extra space. I figured I‘d surprise her with it when she gets back.”

“Just trust me on this one- it was her mother‘s room, and surely you‘ve discovered by now how touchy she is when it comes to her mother. If you want to live to work another job, you’ll patch up that hole and we’ll pretend this conversation never took place.”

“Thank you for your advise, Madeline, but the wall is coming down.”

“It’s your funeral.” she muttered as she went to grab her gym bag.

  
“She didn’t kill me.” were the first words out of Thomas’ mouth when Madeline walked in the next day.

“How close did she come, though, seriously?”

“Well, if looks could kill, I’d be dead," he admitted, "She told me in no uncertain terms to put the wall back up.”

“Then why the hell is the hole bigger than when I saw it this morning? Thomas, you’re a nice guy so I don’t want to see something bad happen to you. You need to patch it up like she said.”

“At the risk of being shut out of her life, I’m doing this for her, whether she knows she wants it yet or not.”

“Okay, well, forgive me if I don’t want to be around to be a witness to your execution. It was nice knowing you.”

Madeline decided to spend Saturday night at a friend’s house to give Park a chance to calm down from the explosion that was sure to follow after seeing the new door. She was more than a little concerned to pull in the next morning to find Thomas’ truck still in the driveway. She knew Park was going to be really upset with him, but surely she wouldn’t have actually killed him!

She opened the front door quietly and glanced around apprehensively. A gorgeous wooden door led to Catherine’s room, and the end table was attractively arranged next to it. Nothing else looked amiss. She followed the smell of coffee into the kitchen, not quite sure what she expected to see.

Thomas Gates standing in front of the coffee machine shirtless at 8 in the morning definitely hadn’t been a possibility.

“Hi.” she said softly, so as not to wake Miss Parker, who she could see still sleeping through the partially closed bedroom door.

“Hi Madeline.” he greeted her sheepishly.

“So I guess she wasn‘t so upset about the door, huh?” she raised an knowing eyebrow.

“We came to an understanding about it.”

She let out a small laugh and glanced at the open bedroom door with a smirk beyond her years, “Uh huh. I‘ll be upstairs.”

It soon became commonplace for Tommy to spend the night, but Madeline was perfectly at ease with him by then. She enjoyed his company and seeing the joy and relaxation he was able to bring out of Miss Parker.

She’d roll her eyes good-naturedly when she came upon them kissing in the kitchen or snuggled close together watching tv, but inwardly she enjoyed seeing them together like that. Though she felt slightly guilty for eavesdropping, sometimes she couldn’t resist sitting at the top of the stairs out of sight after saying her good-nights. She enjoyed listening to their easy banter and the clear affection in their voices.

She wasn’t quite consciously aware of it yet, but seeing Park find such happiness was helping to repair her own battered soul as well as show her that not all men were an evil to be avoided.

~*~

Madeline was at the dining room table doing her homework when the front door opened.

“Hey, Park. You’re home early! Going on another business trip?”

“I wish!” Parker signed heavily, “My father is having a little family get-together tomorrow night, but his house is being worked on, so he wants to have it here!!”

Madeline couldn’t quite understand why that seemed to be such a big deal, aside from the fact that it would be Thomas’ first introduction to the family. Madeline wasn’t sure if Park was worried her family would scare him off.

“Okay. I’ll take the night off gymnastics. What do you want me to cook?”

“It can’t be a simple little meal when it comes to my father! Of course he says ’dinner, drinks, nothing fancy’, but he’s expecting it to be. I’ve got to find a cleaning service to come out first thing, find a caterer, decide on an appropriate menu…” her shoulders slumped, “Try to prepare Tommy for meeting my family. And you‘ll need a nice dress. I‘ll give you money and you can go shopping after school tomorrow.”

“Thomas is a great guy. Your family can’t not like him.” Madeline tried to reassure her, although with Mr. Parker, you could never be sure. She had realized not long after meeting him that his continued dislike of her wasn’t completely personal, per se, it was just his way.

Parker muttered something Madeline didn’t catch as she headed for the phone book in the kitchen.

Madeline was watching Debbie after school the next day so they went shopping together. Debbie was delighted, sharing stories of the time she had to stay with Miss Parker and they went shopping for similar outfits. She especially seemed to enjoy recalling the horrified look on her father’s face when he saw them dressed alike.

It only took a few stores for Madeline to find a lovely, deep purple dress that was flattering and brought out the blue in her eyes, but something she didn’t think would attract much more unwanted attention from Lyle than usual.

She dropped Debbie off at the Broots’ and found the cottage bustling with activity, even though the dinner wasn’t set to begin for another three hours. There were two maids polishing the tables and dining room chairs. A waiter was putting the finishing touches on the table dressing and she could smell something wonderful coming from the noisy kitchen, which turned out to have not one, but two, very professional-looking chefs efficiently and quickly preparing the meal.

A harried looking Park was going over the evening’s course of events with a waitress. Madeline caught her eye and smiled supportively before heading upstairs to try and get some homework done.

Miss Parker came up a little later and sat down on the window seat with a small sigh.

“Did you have luck finding a dress?”

Madeline got it from the back of the bathroom door and held it up for inspection.

Miss Parker nodded approval.

“Are you doing all right?” Madeline asked her.

“I just know something’s going to go wrong. I’ve spent all day making sure everything goes perfectly, but something is going to go wrong.”

“Everything’s going to go great.” she managed to make it sound sincere, although Park wasn’t the only one nervous.

Madeline was more concerned about having to spend the evening around Lyle. From the moment they had met, he sensed her discomfort and seemed to enjoy trying to intensify it. She planned to stick with Tommy and hoped to avoid Lyle as much as possible.

“Everyone’s getting here at eight.” she reminded Madeline before rushing out the door.

Madeline went downstairs at half past seven.

“You clean up well.” she teased Tommy with a smile.

“Thank you, young lady. You look lovely this evening.”

“Thanks.” her smile got wider and her nerves calmed a bit knowing he was on her side.

“Where’s Park?”

“Still getting ready.” He gestured towards her room, “I don’t understand why she’s so nervous. I’m the one meeting her family!”

“I think Mr. Parker’s got really high expectations and she doesn’t like to let him down. She said she was sure something‘s going to go wrong, even though I‘ve heard her go over the game plan with the staff at least half a dozen times.” Madeline shrugged.

When Park emerged from her room, she looked simply stunning. Madeline could only hope that one day she’d be as graceful.

She and Thomas walked over and overheard her telling the waitress the schedule.

“Um, ah, drinks first, then dinner, then I'll climb up onto the top of the roof and jump head first onto the driveway.”

The woman looked at her strangely and Parker told her it was an old family tradition. Thomas leaned in and gave her a reassuring kiss. Madeline smiled when Thomas stopped her nervous fussing by assuring her that she looked incredible.

The doorbell rang and Miss Parker answered it to find her father and Brigitte, also not one of Madeline‘s favorite people, but still preferable to Lyle.

“Angel!” the old man greeted as warmly as he ever seemed able to.

When Brigitte asked if they could come in, Park replied with, “Well, looks like you’re already in.”

Madeline’s jaw nearly dropped when Brigitte said, “We appreciate you hosting this little shindig. Damn floors. You know how slow construction workers can be. Morons with hammers.”

“Bridget…” Miss Parker warned.

“Brigitte.” the brunette corrected.

Madeline loved how Park always intentionally mispronounced her name, and the fact that it never failed to get a rise out of the blond.

“Whatever.” Park easily dismissed her, returning her attention to her father.

“Daddy, this is Thomas.”

“The construction moron. Don't worry, I left my hammer in my other outfit.” he shook hands with Mr. Parker with the friendly smile that came so easily to his lips.

“I've heard a lot about you, son.”

“Well, don't believe everything that you hear.” Thomas joked.

“Like what?” he asked in all seriousness.

Madeline wondered why Park hadn’t thought to share a few key bits of information with Tommy earlier, like the fact that her father had no sense of humor whatsoever.

Madeline decided now would be a good time to step forward and greet their guests as well. She got an insincere smile from Mr. Parker and an equally insincere kiss on the cheek from Brigitte. She stepped back apprehensively when she saw Lyle coming up the stairs over Brigitte’s shoulder.

“Hi. I hope I'm not late.”

“Tommy this is my... brother, Lyle.”

Madeline couldn’t blame her for hesitating to call Lyle her brother.

Lyle actually sounded sincere when he said, “So this is the lucky guy who won my sister's heart.”

“Yeah. I'm the lucky guy.” Thomas replied with an affectionate glance towards the woman in question. Madeline’s jaw dropped a second time when he innocently asked, “What happened to your thumb?”  
  
That was another subject Madeline knew Park really should have mentioned as being off limits.

“Who needs a drink?” Miss Parker headed towards the bar.

  
Mr. Parker did away with his daughter’s seating arrangement, which had thoughtfully put Madeline as far away as possible from Lyle; claiming he wanted his “two best girls” on either side of him. He placed Lyle next to Brigitte, and Thomas across from Lyle, next to Miss Parker. Madeline was at the other end of the table, uncomfortably close to Lyle. She surreptitiously moved her chair closer to Thomas’ side of the table first chance she got.

The meal had a few road bumps when it came to conversation, but otherwise, everything went off without a hitch. Madeline could only wonder what Thomas was thinking at the many lines of tension running rampant through the air.

  
“Oh, I thought the dinner party from hell would never end.” Park said in relief as she closed the door behind her departing guests.

“Good night.” Madeline gave Park a hug.

“Good night. Thank you, Madeline.” Park smiled wearily.

As Madeline headed for her room, Thomas came out of the kitchen with a cup of tea and handed it to Miss Parker.

“I made something to help you sleep.”

“Hmm.” Parker took an appreciative sip.

“Well I thought that tonight went, ah, pretty well.”

Madeline stood at the top of the stairs, interested to hear Parker’s response.

“Nobody died.” was as much of an agreement as he got.

“Brigitte seems like a nice person and she makes your father happy. “

“It's so hard to watch him throw his life away like this.”

“Then don't. If it's making you this miserable, maybe you should stop spending time with them.”

“They're my family.” Madeline heard Park defend weakly.

“Maybe you should think about... starting a new one.”  
  
Madeline smiled and crept up the last few stairs to her room, closing the door gently behind her. She liked Thomas more and more every day.

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to add my stories here now because I've just discovered ao3, and recently started working on this series again, (Craig & Steve's Pretender novels have been very inspiring!) so hopefully will finish it at some point. :) Shouldn't really promise anything, though, since I HAVE been working on it for about 15 years...


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